Who are the best Inspiration persons for you in both Personal & Professional Life? What are the lessons you learnt from them?
I am always inspired by two people, one was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and other was my father. Incidentally, both share the first name and a common birthdate (23rd January). Netaji lit the fire of freedom struggle even beyond Indian shores and gave true global identity to Indian Leadership (going global). He created a 60,000 strong army against the mighty British which is no small feat (startup to Unicorn). He had embodied the idea of DEI much ahead of its time by setting up a truly multi-religious, multi-cultural Army which had a large representation of women. My father, likewise, is a self-made man who started his life journey from scratch and is still working relentlessly at 80+ with same enthusiasm, dedication and grit. Both of them taught me tenacity and a common lesson that “success is the story of struggle and nothing in life comes for free”.
Can you share one nostalgic moment in the process of becoming successful in your journey?
There are many moments in my professional life when I managed to achieve the set goals, so ranking them won’t do real justice. However, since you are asking me to state one nostalgic moment, that for me, was the first successful firing of ASTRA, an indigenously developed Air-to-Air Missile from Sukhoi30MKI aircraft. As Deputy Project Director at DRDO, I was attempting unilaterally, without platform OEM help, integration and launch of ASTRA, which was a tall ask. Among many nay-sayers, we had collectively taken the challenge to make it happen and were extra careful with all our planning and execution. It is not very common that in the very first attempt such a complex weapon system gives 100% success, so when the first launch exceeded all its objectives including target engagement, we all really felt a true sense of accomplishment. Even today that launch video, RT communication and the uproar in the telemetry data room gives me goose bumps.
What are the best quotes still you follow in your day to life?
There are a few but will share two :
“Watch your Thoughts, they become Words. Watch your Words; they become Actions. Watch your Actions; they become Habit. Watch your Habits; they become your Character. Watch your Character, it becomes your Destiny.”
“Only place where Success comes before Work is dictionary”.
How do you feel when you get awards/recognitions for your work?
People are motivated differently and not necessarily by awards. For me any accomplishment is satisfying even without external award or recognition. For example, I like art work, painting, etc and sometimes it takes hours and days of back breaking effort to complete an piece of art but once it gets ready to be framed/mounted, I feel like being rewarded. Off course, any recognition by a relevant professional body gives you satisfaction of being first among the equals. I strongly believe that one must not work for recognition or reward but do work worthy of recognition.
What is your message to young entrepreneurs who wish to become influencers?
The concept of “influencers” is more of a creation of social media age. It appears forced and artificial when someone is called “influencer”. For me people should be “motivational”, like Narayan Murthy or Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Entrepreneurs are not young or old but just entrepreneurs and I am sure none of them do – what they do, to just become influencers. They all are doing great job and hence the only message I want to share with them is – society needs more entrepreneurs like them to create more jobs and build a great economy.
Can you share your achievements in last one decade to our readers?
Last one decade plus has been great for me professionally. I was serving the Indian Air Force for over 2 decades, last position being “Chief Engineer” of a large airbase in North-East India, when I decided to try out my experimental spirt. I joined Adani Groups’ Defence and Aerospace Business as a founding member which was my first private sector job. It was a great learning experience to build multiple capabilities, competencies, M&A, partnerships and greenfield projects for the business from grounds-up. Having done multiple roles in IAF, ranging from Line Maintenance to full MRO, Software Coding to Weapon System Integration, Electronics to Mechanical system, Product Development to Program Management helped me immensely in all my future endeavours. I was fortunate enough to work within DRDO on two R&D programs of national importance. As already mentioned, one of the most satisfying achievement was successfully integrating and launching of ASTRA air-to-air missile from Sukhoi30MKI. At Honeywell India, during Covid times we were awarded with “Fastest Product Development in Honeywell History” plaque for a UVC system. At Safran Helicopter Engines (India), we had an very effective engagement with HAL which converted into setting-up India’s first private sector companies on Aero Engines, namely “SAFHAL” at Bangalore and “HEMRO” at Goa, for Helicopter Engine Design & Development and MRO respectively. The faith and trust shown by Safran Group to offer me an opportunity to lead as CEO & Country Head to execute future plans for India is fulfilling.
Which areas do you think India could do well in coming years?
While India has historically done well in the past 75 years since its independence overcoming the food security concern of 1960s due to green, pink, blue and white revolutions. India did well to come out of the Balance of Payment crisis of the 80s and the economic crisis of the 1990. Indian growth in the past few decades was dominated by services sector, led by IT. It is time that manufacturing plays an equal role in India’s GDP. Currently it is 16% of India’s GDP in constant prices. We are seeing some offshoots now and I think we will do well in that with it increasing to 25% of GDP by 25-26. Agriculture is another sector where we need to do more, since we need to feed 1.5 Billon Indians.
Certain in few new technology areas like Fintech, EVs, Green Energy (target of 500GW by 2030), Unmanned/Drones/Autonomous systems we are not too behind. Indian space industry has also been liberalized now and private organizations apart from ISRO/HAL are now setting up launch vehicle and satellite manufacturing facilities. AI/ML based applications across sectors is another area to do well. We are already doing well in IT, Healthcare and Pharma sector and will continue to do so. In sum total, I see a great deal of positivity around India and its economic growth in coming decades primarily due to growing ambition of average India and the entrepreneurial spirit seen in the young generation.
