14.4.2022
Approaches for New Normal Management in the field of Commerce and Technology
True words of comfort to employees that came from the Golden Heart of N Srinivasan, Managing Director, India Cements during the Pandemic period
India needs more true Human Being Business Leaders like N Srinivasan, MD, India Cements
V. Balasubramanian
It was a big pride for me and my dream came true when I was invited as Chief Guest by the historic 75 year old Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Mylapore, Chennai for addressing a seminar on 8.4.2022 organised by Department of Information Systems and Management.
I was warmly received by Dr. K. Sethusankar, Principal, Dr. N.Sridharan, HoD in Charge, ISM Dept, Professors and Students. I offered my respect to Swami Muktimayanandaji Maharaj, Evening College in Charge.
It is my pleasure share the speech I prepared and delivered on the topic at the inaugural session of Seminar in the College on 8.4.2022. It was attended by Commerce and ISM students and they found my speech very useful. The programme was well organised by Faculty and students.
8.4.2022
Seminar on “ Approaches for new- normal Management in the field of
Commerce and Technology”
Organised
by Department of Information Systems Management of
Ramakrishna
Mission Vivekananda College ( Evening)
First, I
would like to invoke Blessings of almighty, Gurus and Swamijis for the welfare
of all and convey my best wishes to students, faculty and staff of this great
institution, founded in the name of great spiritual leader, Swami Vivekananda.
My
humble Pranams to Swamiji.Respected Principal, Dr. K. Sehtusankar,
distinguished Professors, Faculty, admin staff,
my dear students and invitees.
Sincerely
thank Vivekananda College and Dr. N.
Sridharan, Head- In charge of Department of ISM for inviting me for today’s
Seminar.
If
Education and knowledge are considered the best wealth one should acquire, it
is fortunate to study and learn in an
historic institution. That way, I envy
you students for studying in this great historic institution under the able guidance of dedicated
teachers. The college has produced several luminaries , business leaders and
achievers.
Big
pride and Honour for me to visit this great educational institution because of
the historical connect of this College and my great organisation, India
Cements.
Both
were born in the year 1946 when world war was over and political freedom was around the country.
Their role in nation building is immeasurable. Last year, they Proudly
celebrated Platinum Jubilee Year. India
Cements has built several landmark structures. Swami Vivekananda Rock memorial
in Kanyakumari was built using our rock solid Sankar Cement.
Again,
India Cements and cricket are synonymous and
I am so proud to know the College has a good cricket team and that leading cricketers are alumni of this
college.
Seminar
Theme
Seminar
theme is topical and relevant. Such knowledge sharing sessions are important for students to understand
the current developments in the economy and business world. In my ET days, I
had the opportunity of organising many such sessions for management students in several
colleges. They helped the students to know the latest trends in economy and
business and improve their prospects in
the job market.
Based on my long experience in business
journalism and ten years in corporate communication, I would like to share some
thoughts on the approach of business and
commerce I have come across during the
Covid induced lockdown, containment measures and the post pandemic period.
If you
look at India’s economic history, new normal or new economic order is nothing
new. The country as well as commerce and businesses have weathered several external and internal
shocks, geo political tensions, turbulent periods.
In the past,
India waged wars with China and Pakistan
and faced natural calamities like famine
and drought. Then we had gulf wars, oil
crisis, Asian Crisis, BoP crisis, twin tower attack in the US, economic
sanctions imposed after N test and the worst global financial crisis in 2008. We have seen the attack on
Taj Hotels in Mumbai.
Since
1991, we have seen sweeping economic reforms, new laws on governance and
compliance. More recently, the note ban
or demonetisation in 2016 and the big ticket GST reforms.
After
the pandemic, turnaround of economy, over 8 % GDP growth estimated in 2021-22
and RBI has lowered the growth estimate to 7.2%
this year. But, suddenly, now the war between Ukraine and Russia,
economic crisis in Sri Lanka and reports of new virus surfacing in China and
lockdown in its Shanghai city. Surge in oil and commodity prices. Shortage of
coal, pet coke. So, Every day it is new
normal situation or new economic order.
As described by one American Anthropologist ,
the businesses have to now deal with a new BANI world of brittle, anxious,
non-linear and incomprehensible. This is the world where systems break without
warning and businesses have to be prepared to combat them for their business
continuity.
New
normal world triggered by Covid 19 , pandemic and lockdowns
The
pandemic was a global shock, affecting more than 100 countries. India was the
worst hit due to its size of US Dollar 3 Trillion economy and large population.
Our healthcare system could not cope with the challenge posed by the deadly
life threatening unknown disease.
When the
virus spread like fire and stringent nation- wide lockdown started from March
25, 2020, it led to total disruption of economic and business activity. Organisations
had very tough time. Imagine the impact on business continuity with India
having 1000 listed large companies in the public and private sectors covering a
wide spectrum of manufacturing and service sector.
While
the first wave was not felt much in rural India and with good rainfall, agri
and allied sectors did well, industry
and services sector took the hit. In the case of cement industry, the construction activity paralysed, exodus of
migrant labour, contract labour. Curbs on inter- state movement. Logistics was
a big problem in the movement of cement, which cannot be stored for long. The
informal and unorganised sector was also the worst hit during the pandemic
period.
After a month or so, some relaxations, but
virus threat was still looming large. No vaccine. Focus, first on saving lives
and then livelihoods. Govt of India and RBI unveiled a series of Atmanirbhar Bharat package- Rs 30
lakh crore or so with focus on reviving consumption and increased
public spending on irrigation, road building, housing and other projects. RBI
also announced monetary measures to support the stimulus package. Some relief in statutory obligations,
compliance rules, repayment of debt.
New communication technologies like zoom, MS
Team, Google Meet came as boon to organisations.
Most of
the organisations adopted a three pronged approach- positive,
proactive and supportive. Positive approach
by way of building confidence among employees and their family,
communicating to them , motivating them. There are established organisations
like India Cements which are known for corporate as well as human touch in
their HR policy. New communication technologies like zoom, MS Team, Google Meet
came as boon to organisations.
India Cements MD, Shri N.
Srinivasan a true human being.
India Cements MD, Shri N. Srinivasan is known
for extensively travelling to our plants and market places to meet our
executives in the plants and dealers and trade partners. After demonetisation
of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, he visited major centres and met nearly 100
dealers to understand the impact on our business and guide them in doing
cashless digital transaction. During the
Covid, lockdown period, enabled by the
new technology, he started addressing
our employees in the plants, marketing offices and other offices through zoom
calls and other modes.
Our MD
is always a true human being. His true words of comfort came straight from his
heart when he declared, “ You ( employees) are not responsible for this
pandemic. It is time for all of you to take care of your health and stay
indoor. Everything else, I will take care”. In my view, India needs more True Human Being Business Leaders like N. Srinivasan, MD, India Cements.
Though
the way we do business changed due to
the pandemic, the management took care of
employees in the entire 18 months period and ensured that all the
employees are paid their salary without any cut and no one asked to leave
during the period. There are organisations resorted to pay cut but restored
them latter.
Plants operated with limited workforce while
strictly following all safety protocols. Luckily, that time, fuel, pet coke and
other raw material cost was not alarming. Companies turned pro active and
focused on pruning fixed cost, marketing
and admin overheads and ban on travel. All meetings
conducted over virtual mode.
Emphasis on training, multi-skilling
We encouraged the use of technology, made available gadgets for WFH and WFA. Luckily, all our plants have housing colonies and that helped in keeping our workforce safe and containing the spread of virus. In fact, this was highlighted by Dr C. Rangarajan Committee appointed by TN Government in 2020 had favoured developing housing colonies in large industrial complexes.
Another important pro active
measure India Cements took, was encouraging the
permanent employees to learn new skills, multi-skilling, through virtual training sessions.
We encouraged them to go extra mile, taking up
ownership, additional responsibility, bridge the gap, need of the hour, the job training for maintenance of machines,
improving the performance of machines and systems. Implemented TPM, Kaizen
practices as part of cost control.
Unexpected second wave in March 2021
After
the first wave, from the second half of 2020-21, more relaxation in the curbs,
economy was limping back to normalcy, pent up released, revenge spending in the
festival period. More construction and
house building activity beyond metros in rural and urban centres, cities due to
the shift in work places.
At the
same time, for the second successive year in
2020-21, we had excessive rains and extended monsoon in the two seasons,
floods in some parts of India. This affected the construction activity and the
demand for cement and building materials. In January 2021, Govt started
vaccination drive. We also organised camps for first dose for employees and
their family.
As
everyone thought virus threat receded, new variant surfaced in March 2021 and
the country was hit by the draconian second wave. Its impact was deadly, took
lot of lives. Severe shortage of beds in the hospitals, oxygen concentrators,
other medical equipment.
Again lockdown, containment measures. It disrupted economic
activity, affected inter-state movement, demand and consumption. We extended all possible
support to the affected employees and their family members. When vaccine supply
improved, We arranged for second dose for employees and family.
Role of Corporate Communication
The role
of corporate communication assumed more importance in the pandemic period and
new normal situation. I did my best to help our organisation in communicating
to our stakeholders, be it employees, channel partners, shareholders,
investors, media. I also focused on
improving the content in our house journal, Compass.
2021 was
the Platinum Jubilee Year. We could not celebrate through public meetings. But
effectively used new technologies to celebrate with new creative videos,
messages. I brought out a handbook with inspiring thoughts, quotable quotes of
MD from his speeches, media interviews over the years, covering his views on
economy, industry, management, sports etc. It was well received by our
employees and our well wishers.
CSK
Cement launched as game changer
India
Cements has three major trusted cement
brands, Sankar, Coromandel and Raasi for serving different markets. On
16.3.2022, MD unveiled two new brands, Conkrete Super King and Halo Super King as a game changer and one stop solution
from foundation to roof application. CSK Cement is packed with power of 7 unique features of CSK Icon M S Dhoni, VP,
Marketing, India Cements. The national roll out of the new cement brands was
widely covered in all media. The products are well received in all the markets.
Key Learnings from the pandemic
New
normal has become a way of life at the individual and firm level. Organisations have to be more vigilant and
alert all the time for business continuity. Difficult to do business planning
even for a month.
At the
same time, organisations are going for adoption of technology and
deploying IT systems for operational
efficiency, understand the trends in the market, customer behaviour and engage
with stakeholders. With rapid urbanisation, we see more house building activity
in tier 2 and 3 cities. We need to google map the activity and evaluate the
performance of trade partners.
Luckily,
in the google age, India has strong
digital system. Extensive penetration of internet, android, digital mobility.
We are able to quickly adapt ourselves to the changes. Organisations are
spending more on AI, Machine learning, data science, business analytics,
customer experience. More than US Dollar 110 Billion IT spend estimated this
fiscal.
Also,
India has developed a strong innovation driven start-up eco system. We had 726 start ups in
2016-17. Today, we have over 67000 start-ups, spread across 640 districts,
employing over seven lakh people- each start up
11 jobs. What is more, India is home to 42 unicorns , each start up
company valued at over US Dollar 1 Billion.
This number expected to touch 100 in 2022. We see integration of
manufacturing with services, we see companies acquiring tech and app companies
as developing them take time.
Remember Swami Vivekananda’s powerful message
Once
again, I sincerely thank all of you for the wonderful opportunity given to me
to share my thoughts. Let us remember
the Golden, powerful message of Swami Vivekananda in our life time for
achieving our goal of a prosperous India.
“ But
one vision, I see clear as life before me that the ancient Mother has awakened
once more, sitting on her throne, rejuvenated, more glorious than ever.
Proclaim her to the entire world with the voice of peace and benediction. Arise! Awake! Stop not till the Goal is
reached”
Jai
Hind!
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