As the year draws to a close, the Alumni Committee is pleased to present the December edition of Imprints, to update our alumni with the latest SIMSR news and happenings. In this edition we have also covered an exclusive article on Demonetization and an exclusive interview with Mr. Reuben Pandian. Team ALCOM remains committed to provide ways for our alumni to remain connected to the college and to one another. Team ALCOM wishes you a very Merry Christmas!!! Alumni Achievement Mr. Vikram Malhotra, SIMSR Alum of batch 1997- 99 , Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Abundantia Entertainment Pvt Ltd is joining forces with acclaimed director Neeraj Pandey for the production of a movie titled- 'Toilet- Ek Prem Katha' starring Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar. Taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative of Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan - the movie is a fun love story inspired by true events with a social message on open defecation in our country. We wish Mr. Malhotra and his team all the best! ALUMSTANCE Team ALCOM Speaks As a part of stronger Alumni engagement, Alumni Committee brings to you AlumStance. Presenting here the stance of our Alum, Mr. Ankur Mehta (batch 2006), AVP, Marsh India, on the Effect of Demonetization: Short-term impact: Create a sense of loss of cash, cash scarcity in a mind of spending population. Impact certain businesses and consequently will have ripple effect on employment and downstream supply chain. Life and Retirement products might see a slow-down in sales due to lower consumption behaviour. Car and bike should be largely unaffected as it is mandatory to have a motor insurance. Long-term impact: Move the median income up at the bottom of the pyramid. Migrate more transactions from cash to electronic or mobile form. Create more productive money for the economy – either in the bank or higher tax collection. More small businesses would consider buying insurance to cover the risks as the cash transactions become limited. Online and mobile channels will become more effective channels for sale and service due to increased online and mobile adoption. On insurance sector: On a macro-level, the Insurance sector is not immediately impacted by demonetization, as most of the modes of premium payment are by Cheque or Online Payment Methods. A small section of the transactions (below INR 50,000) are still on cash basis. Another aspect is the small Agriculture farmers, who pay most premiums by cash. For these affected sections the Government and the IRDAI has provided extension to make necessary payments for policy holders whose premiums fall due between 8 th November and 30 th November. Disclaimer : The views expressed here are those of the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of SIMSR or the Alumni Committee.
Transcript
As the year draws to a close, the Alumni Committee
is pleased to present the December edition of
Imprints, to update our alumni with the latest SIMSR
news and happenings.
In this edition we have also covered an exclusive
article on Demonetization and an exclusive interview
with Mr. Reuben Pandian. Team ALCOM remains
committed to provide ways for our alumni to remain
connected to the college and to one another.
Team ALCOM wishes you a very Merry Christmas!!!
Alumni Achievement
Mr. Vikram Malhotra, SIMSR Alum
of batch 1997- 99 , Founder & Chief
Executive Officer at Abundantia
Entertainment Pvt Ltd is joining
forces with acclaimed director Neeraj
Pandey for the production of a movie
titled- 'Toilet- Ek Prem Katha'
starring Akshay Kumar and Bhumi
Pednekar.
Taking forward Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s initiative of
Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan - the movie
is a fun love story inspired by true
events with a social message on open
defecation in our country.
We wish Mr. Malhotra and his team all the best!
ALUMSTANCE Team ALCOM Speaks
As a part of stronger Alumni engagement, Alumni Committee brings to you AlumStance. Presenting here the stance of our Alum, Mr. Ankur Mehta (batch 2006), AVP, Marsh India, on the Effect of Demonetization: Short-term impact:
Create a sense of loss of cash, cash scarcity in a mind of spending population. Impact certain businesses and consequently will have ripple effect on employment and downstream supply chain. Life and Retirement products might see a slow-down in sales due to lower consumption behaviour. Car and bike should be largely unaffected as it is mandatory to have a motor insurance.
Long-term impact:
Move the median income up at the bottom of the pyramid. Migrate more transactions from cash to electronic or mobile form. Create more productive money for the economy – either in the bank or higher tax collection. More small businesses would consider buying insurance to cover the risks as the cash transactions become limited. Online and mobile channels will become more effective channels for sale and service due to increased online and mobile adoption.
On insurance sector:
On a macro-level, the Insurance sector is not immediately impacted by demonetization, as most of the modes of premium payment are by Cheque or Online Payment Methods. A small section of the transactions (below INR 50,000) are still on cash basis. Another aspect is the small Agriculture farmers,
who pay most premiums by cash. For these affected sections the Government and the IRDAI has provided extension to make necessary payments for policy holders whose premiums fall due between 8th November and 30th November.
Disclaimer : The views expressed here are those of the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of SIMSR or the Alumni Committee.
Interview With
Mr. Reuben Pandian
Head -Planning and Merchandising
Tata Unistore Limited
(SIMSR Alum Batch Of 1993-1995)
Q. How was your experience in Reliance Retail while stepping into multifunctional roles (Strategy Head, Business Planning, Business process IT integration) ?
A. The good part about Reliance is the scale at which they work provides you an exposure to different developments. That is how I managed to upscale from one assignment to another. Across retail, I think I touched upon all aspects of retail – front end, back end, technology, interfaces, product – manufacturing and sourcing, software integration. Reliance is one of the best in terms of execution. In Reliance, there is freedom to do things the way you want. Business process IT integration is close to my heart. It is the fundamental and future for anything scalable, controllable, monitor-able.
value in the products that they desire.
Q. What is your advice to SIMSR students? A. I can give perspectives not advise. There is no right or
wrong but perspectives. “Life is now Live the moment right now”. I would suggest to keep your integrity – be someone who is whole and complete. For instance, a cycle does not stop if one out of its fifty spokes breaks. It will continue to function but with lesser efficiency. So just holding on will not help, you have to take a step back and correct it to get going.
back then in 1995. I was recruited by Wipro, post which it’s been an exciting journey. From Wipro, I moved to Dabur where we launched a fresh juice brand. It was an interesting experience because its packaging used to happen in Nepal, our sourcing used to happen from US - California, Australia and a bit from India. Reprocessing used to happen in the factory, partly in Nepal, partly in Sahibabad. After that I moved to Pepsi, down south in Coimbatore. Beverage industry is a highly recommended industry. It’s extremely hectic. Every minute is a training ground. I was in a zone where Pepsi was dominant than Coke in India. The beverage industry exposure helps you absorb and learn ground level business dynamics. To me this was where I learned execution of Marketing and Sales – distributor market, the whole sellers, logistics and more. The passion for the brand in this industry is extremely high.
match winner.
Q. How important role will the technology play for creating t h i s ' o n e - o f - i t s - k i n d , omnichannel' marketplace ? A. The word “Phygital – omni”
being used in different contexts is nothing but multi channel. To define Omni channel is basically to get anything anytime when you want it. We are connected to mobile phone device wherever we go and whatever we do like – connect ing to an e-commerce site, walking into a store, on social networking platforms – the mobile is connected to you. Digital is an evolving space. T h i s p o w e r c r e a t e s requirements. Consumers are now looking for lifetime
Q. Do you think Tata CliQ’s - phygital marketing be the key differentiator compared to its competitors?
A. If you had asked this question to me 15 years ago, the answer would be - Absolutely. Today technology is changing rapidly. Anyone who gets the first mover advantage gains from it. The faster we roll it out and execute it correctly, we have an edge for a period of time. Nothing in the phygital space is not replicable. Everything is perpetually connected. So technology has to move up, you get a first mover advantage then the brand takes over at some point of time. Here, speed will be the
Q. What was your most memorable moment at SIMSR ? A. Its difficult for me to tell one particular memorable moment,
but the overall experience of having been in one of the largest campuses amongst Management institutes in Bombay itself is memorable. In a couple of weeks, I figured out that what you have in SIMSR is better than anything else that you could possibly have in Bombay.
Q. What have been the turning points in your life? A. Day 1 Campus recruitment was like the beginning of a new
trend in life. I think I was the first to get placed on campus
