Continuum: Ensuring business resiliency & jumpstarting growth

Overview

The Indian economy, according to a Reuters poll, contracted by 20% in the last quarter, the first double-digit fall since the mid-90s. Rising unemployment, hunger, malnutrition, poverty and deaths – the Coronavirus pandemic has showed us a dystopian side of life on earth that we could have not imagined easily. One does not need to be a clairvoyant to see how we are struggling to maintain balance between a life-threatening disease and living a normal life.

Businesses and business organisations are no different. In fact, the Indian business sentiment has turned negative for the first time in a decade, reflecting pessimism on activity and profits, according to a report from market research firm IHS.
Simply put, the pandemic has put up an inflection point in the graph of world economics and human history forcing all of us to look forward to a new normal.

Time to be “Resilient”

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling but rising up every time we fall”.

As the business world continues to experience disruptive global crisis events – natural disasters and hazards, political unrest, changes in power and now the zoonotic virus, there is a case to be made for resilience. These types of incidents can’t be controlled, but boosting your corporate immune system can help withstand changes and move past crises. When an adverse event strikes, it’s not enough for organisations to just get back on their feet. These are opportunities to stay ahead and be resilient longer term.

In a world where “long-term” means uncertainty and permanent flux, organisations need more than just agility in the way they manage and move on from risk to opportunity. Truly resilient organisations look for the growth opportunities – and have the strategies to capture them.

Introducing The Inflection Point

As businesses and business leaders continue to innovate to keep their operations profitable and to outmanoeuvre the pandemic, “The Economic Times presents The Inflection Point” is an effort to understand, hear and gather insights from the first executives of large companies on how they are making their organisations future ready.

Much like the Greek Ecclesia from c.621 BC, where young talented citizens were called on as a group to deal with tough challenges, this televised panel platform will serve as a knowledge-sharing, brainstorming and ideation to implementation platform for all business leaders who are frontrunners in their own domain in the absence of a much-needed and desired platform.

These leaders, who have stood out during normal times and have expanded their business empire, can collectively with their superior intellect and economic prudence steer the world away from economic depression or avoid it from sinking to disastrous levels.

The platform with every episode will look at key issues such as business resiliency, employer-employee relations, strategy discussions and the role of technology in beating the crisis, across various sectors in order to form a mozette of its own that will focus on building a better future for tomorrow.

Speakers

Dharmender Kapoor
CEO & MD
BirlaSoft

RC Bhargava
Chairman
Maruti Suzuki

Rajiv Agarwal
MD & CEO
Essar Ports

Sameer Garde
President
Cisco India and SAARC

Sunil Duggal
CEO
Vedanta

Agenda

15:00 - 15:05

Opening Remarks by ET Edge/Moderator

15:05 - 16:05

Panel Discussion: Continuum – Ensuring business resiliency & jumpstarting growth (Resolve, reinvent and reboot)

This session, which will ideally have five panellists along with a moderator, is going to be led by business leaders who are going to apprise the audience of the possible challenges of maintaining business resiliency and how to go about tackling them. The leaders are also going to shed light on how companies can look at moving to the growth track in a response to fight the economic despondency being led by the pandemic. Discussion points will include:

a) Rethinking strategies during/post pandemic outbreak
b) Getting ready for a remote/connected workplace
c) Skilling staff across functions to adhere to new strategies
d) Adjusting capacity to deliver more as customer demand rises
e) Reimagining business models to meet consumer demand post Covid-19
f) How to work closely with government and regulatory authorities
g) Improvements in risk-management framework

Speakers:

  1. Mr RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki
  2. Mr Sunil Duggal, CEO, Vedanta
  3. Mr Rajiv Agarwal, MD, Essar Ports
  4. Mr Sameer Garde, President – India & SAARC, Cisco
  5. Mr Dharmender Kapoor, CEO, BirlaSoft
  6. Mr Vikram Hosangady, Partner & Head – Clients & Market, KPMG India (moderator)

16:05 - 16:10

Closing remarks by Moderator
R. C. Bhargava joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1956, on the basis of an All-India competitive examination and secured the number one position in India. He worked on various posts in UP and J&K till 1973, when he came to the central Government. His last posting in Delhi was Joint Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat.

Mr. Bhargava joined Maruti Udyog Limited, soon after its incorporation in 1981 as Director Marketing and Sales. Mr. Bhargava was appointed as the Managing Director (CEO) in 1985. He continued on this post till he retired in 1997. He was re-inducted to the Board in 2003 when the Company was listed. He was appointed as the non-executive Chairman in 2007, a position he continues to hold to date.

Mr. Bhargava has been on the Board of Directors of a number of leading companies in India. He has also been on the Boards/Chairman of leading educational institutions.

Mr. Bhargava has written a book, ‘The Maruti Story’. He has also authored a book in Japanese on Suzuki’s strategy in India.

Mr. Bhargava was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016. In November 2011, the Emperor of Japan had conferred on Mr. Bhargava the “Order of the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Star”. He has also been given the Lifetime Award for Management by the Economic Times and the All India Management Association. He has received the Forbes (India) Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement. CNBC-TV 18 has inducted him into the Hall of Fame.

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Mr. Rajiv Agarwal is the CEO and Managing Director of Essar Ports Ltd, which is one of the largest private sector port companies in India by capacity and throughput. Mr. Agarwal is a Chartered Accountant with over 35 years of experience and has held various leadership positions in industries like Ports, Shipping, Telecom, Retail and Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO).

He became MD and CEO of Essar Shipping, Ports & Logistics Limited in 2010 and under him the Ports Business of Essar has grown manifold increasing Port Capacity in India alone from 46 MMTPA in FY10 to 110 MMTPA in 2019. Essar Ports has India’s trophy infrastructure asset providing all the characteristics of a large, long-term, stable and dominant infrastructure business. Diversifying customer profile is key centric to expansion strategy of Essar Ports with enhanced volumes of third party cargo. Under his leadership the company has grown manifold. Company has expanded across strategic locations on both east & west coast of India contributing to the growth of the sector through state of the art mechanized facilities. Recently under his astute leadership the company also saw successful divestment of the Vadinar Oil Terminal (58 MMTPA capacity). He has been instrumental in setting up of Greenfield 20 MMTPA dry bulk terminal in Salaya, Gujarat and the commissioning of 24 MMTPA iron ore terminal in Vizag Port. The company under him has received multiple honors in various fields not limited to operations, systems & processes, safety & security and CSR responsibility. He has immensely contributed in development of industry friendly policies for maritime sector through industry representation. He is being covered on a regular basis by both Indian & International Media & forums for his thoughts on the growth of the maritime sector. He believes Maritime Industry is at the center of world trade and economy playing a pivotal role for economic development and that it is important to invest in innovative, environment friendly – long term sustainable solutions which will generate returns over long term for all the stakeholders.

He Joined Essar Group in 1997 as Chief Operating Officer in Essar Telecom and was the Executive Director of Essar Shipping Limited (ESL) from 1998-2002. He has been instrumental in setting up several startup companies as CEO like The MobileStore Limited, Telecom Towers and Infrastructure Limited and Aegis Communications. He has been key member of several industry committees like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Federation of Indian Commerce Industries (FICCI), The Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and SUPERBRANDS for several years.

He is recipient of Port Personality of the Year 2019 at International Bulk Journal Awards, Maritime Personality of the Year’ 17 at Gujarat Star Awards and Port Personality of the Year’ 17 at Maritime & Logistics Awards. He has also been conferred with Maritime Standard Excellence Award’ 16 in Dubai for his contributions to maritime Sector. In the past he has also won the CEO of the Year Award in 2009 at Asia Retail Congress and was among the finalists for Asia Business Leadership Awards, 2015 by CNBC.

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Sameer Garde is President of Cisco’s India and SAARC theater. As President, Sameer is responsible for sales, operations, growth initiatives and investments in strategic alliances in the theater. Sameer spearheads Cisco’s objective to be a transformational partner to the government across states and cities and provide customers with the right foundation for their digital businesses.

Over a career spanning 27 years, Sameer has led several topperforming organizations with an enduring track record across multiple roles and regions. His keen understanding of technology and market opportunities enables him to drive transformation and capture critical market transitions. A proven leader, Sameer has built and managed global and regional businesses in India, Europe, USA and Asia.

Prior to joining Cisco, Sameer worked with and mentored a few emerging technology and B2C/distribution-related start-ups and as an executive coach and business consultant.

Earlier, as the President and MD for Dell India, he consolidated and stabilized the consumer and enterprise business for the company. During his nine-year stint in Dell in various sales and management leadership roles, he was instrumental in making Dell the number one hardware vendor in the country.

Sameer has served as President, South Asia at Philips Healthcare and Country Head for Enterprise Business at Samsung India.

Sameer is a highly respected leader who maintains a commitment to professional development and inclusion and diversity in the workplace.

He holds an engineering degree from IIT Delhi and an MBA from IIM Kolkata. Sameer dabbles in amateur long-distance running and photography, and is a driving-holiday enthusiast.

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Mr. Sunil Duggal has worked as Vedanta’s Global CEO for Metals and Mining for Group companies including Sterlite Copper, Vedanta Zinc International – Africa and Ireland, Copper Mines of Tasmania – Australia.

He was also served as CEO & Whole-time Director of Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL), a subsidiary of the Company in 2015. He had been associated with HZL since 2010 as Executive Director and thereafter became the Chief Operating Officer in the year 2012 and Dy. CEO in 2014.

Mr. Duggal is a result oriented professional with over 36 years of experience of leading high-performance teams and more than 20+ years in leadership positions. He is known for his ability to calmly navigate through tough and challenging times, nurture and grow a business, evaluate opportunities & risks and successfully drive efficiency & productivity whilst reducing costs & inefficiencies and deliver innovative solutions to challenges. His thrust on adopting best-in-class mining and smelting techniques, state of art environment friendly technologies and mechanization, automation & digitalization of operational activities has added great value.

He was born and brought up in Amritsar and comes from a humble background. His initial education is from DAV school, Amritsar and has an Electrical Engineering degree from Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala. He is an Alumni of IMD, Lausanne – Switzerland and IIM, Kolkata.

He is serving as Vice Chairman – International Zinc Association, President – Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, President – Indian Lead Zinc Development Association. Recently, he has been appointed as the Chair – CII National Committee on Mining.

Considering his vast experience and knowledge of Vedanta’s businesses and operations, Mr. Sunil Duggal was appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Ltd w.e.f. 1st August, 2020.

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