Sandpaper - The BITSAA Magazine

How do you remember your BITSian days?

I do not even know where to start. The five years I spent in BITS were most definitely the best five years of my life so far, each one of them full of good memories. I suppose one should not start from the experience of being ragged in Shankar Bhawan in the first month. I have no idea what happens now (I do not believe that it is even considered as a politically correct term) but it really was a worthwhile experience.

I made many friends that I would not have made otherwise during my first month in Pilani. Then of course are the memories of the Saturday evening movies in the auditorium, playing cricket almost every day and going to Connaught Circle after the cricket practice, occasional English movies at CEERI, drinking “Shikanji” in the summer from the carts, eating Ras malai in the only restaurant in the campus, “chai and Samasos” at the Post office, going to Nutan for “tittars” at Panditji's with “fulke’s from the mess, trying to get (and finally succeeding) a non-veg mess going, playing TT at night and talking endlessly about issues from cricket to Ayn Rand to Vietnam. And yes, let us not forget occasional visits to the class rooms to make sure that others are attending classes and all is well with the world. We had a group of 30 or so from all branches who have become friends for life. What a phenomenal experience. I owe my entire success to the five years I spent in Pilani.

Do you have any special nostalgic memory from Pilani days?

Two special memories: My first memory is that of playing "Kali Rani" on the road during the strike in 1974 where we actually thought that we can stop traffic in and out of the campus. The second memory is of my final night in Pilani where 30 of us visited every Bhavan and walked every road including two back to back walks around Meera Bhavan.

You have a chemical engineering degree from Pilani. Did that engineering degree help in your current profession?

My current profession revolves around creating innovative solutions to solve improve corporate performance using quantitative metrics and tools. We have designed our own software applications to assist us in doing that. So what I do on a day-to-day basis really has very little to do with Chemical engineering but what I learned in the engineering program has shaped how we approach the challenge and be pragmatic about our applications. I do not think any other degree would have helped me as much to do what I do now.

What were the reasons you decided to choose corporate finance as a career?

I would like to say that the choice was made after careful planning and great deliberations about careers. I almost started my PhD. in engineering. I think what attracted me to finance was its proximity to engineering. Finance is all about numbers, lots of uncertainty about interpretation, dealing with complex inter-linkage between past actions and future performance, and a requirement to understand and build valuation models that require thought processes and analytical judgements similar to solving an engineering problem. The more I studied finance, the easier and more interesting it became.

What prompted you to foray into the commercial world?

If you talk to any one of my friends they will tell you that the last person they thought would go into academia would be me. I always knew that I need to be in the application world. I have never been very attracted to esoteric theories and models that do not meet real world challenges. Also, the computer technology came at the right time for me (we did our entire engineering program using slide rules) and it provided the possibility of putting the knowledge and business rules in a box. In addition, the more people I met, the more they asked me to work with them to meet their challenges. It sort of just happened.

Tell us more about Corporate Renaissance group (CRG). How did it all start?

CRG started really as a hobby and as an experiment. In the late 80s, Canada was in a recession and some of my good students were finding it hard to find jobs after graduation. My consulting practice was growing and I saw that the businesses were not using the technology effectively. So I thought why not match my clients’ needs with my students desire to excel and my knowledge about business and technology and see if it works. And to my surprise, we are now a global firm with global client base.

You are currently both a professor and an entrepreneur. Which role do you enjoy more?

Actually I enjoy both roles. Being a professor allows me to explore new ideas, new avenues, and new thoughts that probably have no immediate practical relevance but they provide me with an intellectual challenge. It also allows me to work with some young eager minds who want to think out of the box. I, also enjoy my entrepreneurial hat. This hat allows me to practice what I preach, fly around the world, meet interesting clients, work with world class people and be on a continuous learning journey. At this stage in my life, I would not trade one with the other.

What are your opinions about the M.Sc. Finance curriculum at BITS? Do you think it prepares students for the real world challenges?

I must confess that I do not know anything about the M.Sc. Finance program at BITS. If it is structured in the context of applied M.Sc. that is focussed on real problems, I think it would be a very enriching experience for students. I am a bit of a skeptic of theoretical finance; I think we have solutions to explain the aggregate but not the ‘particular” – the challenge is to know the first principles (for example efficient markets) and then to apply to the ‘particular” by appreciating the context.

Have you been to Pilani after you graduated from BITS?

Actually I came to Pilani only once in 1974 just before I came to McGill. I had joined IIM A’bad but did not like the food (believe it – that was the primary reason for leaving) and decided to take up the offer from McGill. I still had some friends who were doing their 11^th semester, so I thought I would better drop in and see how they were doing. However, I am planning to visit Pilani this December and hope to find a place in the Alumni house and looking forward to finally showing Emi, my wife, the place I have been telling her about for so many years.

What’s your mantra for succeeding in a management and finance career?

I think if one has an engineering degree, a career in management/finance after some experience is a very good career. One could almost (I am kidding) get away with minimal people skills. Kidding aside, for those who like to solve challenges where there is rarely a correct answer and want to see the impact of their decision on organizations and on strategy, this is an excellent career. Two words of caution for succeeding in this career: one must have excellent presentation skills and one must know how to deal with diverse opinions from equally smart (or smarter) people.

Your advice to BITSians who are on the crossroads of choosing a career between engineering and management.

The only comment I would like to make to those who are currently studying at BITS is that this is an absolutely phenomenal time for creative and smart minds to make a difference in this world. The technology is exploding, world is becoming global, there are no boundaries and there are no limits of resources. No one today cares about where you are born, what you look like or where you come from. Around the world, organizations are looking for individuals with imagination, excellent work ethics, a desire to succeed, those who can sacrifice the short term for the long term. For the first time in the history of the world, the opportunities are truly global; all one has to do is to have the audacity to grab them before someone else.■