Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
Visit of Mr. Subroto Bagchi, COO Mindtree
 

A "talk" by Mr.Subroto Bagchi,
COO Mindtree Consulting

Sometimes one wonders how so much humility and genuineness could be found in a person who is referred to as one of the "Splendid Torchbearers" by everyone around. Yes, I am talking about Mr.Subroto Bagchi, COO Mindtree Consulting. It was in the portals of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) that I had an encounter with the person whom people see with such respect and gratitude and who has humility even in the way he walks. He refused to believe he is successful when there are people as successful as Mr.Narayan Murthy, Mr. Azim Premji, Dr. Devi Shetty and likes. Born in Patnagarh, Balangir district of Orissa, devoid of primary education, living in government quarters with no electricity is how Mr.Subroto Bagchi grew up. He had his first formal education only after the age of 8 when he had landed in Bhubaneswar, in his words, "tucked up with my mother, uneducated, unemployed".

Mr.Subroto Bagchi visited XIMB on 27^th December 2005 to deliver a talk on "National HRD Network". He followed a format that entertained questions from the audience which he would answer - an "interview" with the audience.

Mr.Subroto Bagchi, COO Mindtree shared the events leading to Mindtree Consulting's creation. He said he believes Wipro and TCS are 1^st generation companies, they had an existing business power to establish themselves, Infosys is 2^nd generation company, they established themselves without any existing business struggling for good 10-12 years and Mindtree is 3^rd generation as it does not have time also on its side, everything has to be done at real time. He explained the importance of including one's customer's customer for growth of an organization. i.e. not only do you include your employee but also his parents, not only your supplier but your supplier's supplier as well and so on.

Mr. Subroto Bagchi shared that innovation needed a "rain forest condition" for the "seed" to grow in a proper manner even in the oxymoron condition of "managed" innovation. According to him diversity of people, religion, places, right brain, left brain, disabled etc.;giving people self-confidence and funding of innovations are pre-requisites of the "rain forest conditions".

He sadly commented how his eyes bowed in shame at the state of Balangir while his company was growing faster than the IT sector. But, he also proudly claimed that in a research conducted by Philips, Sasken and Mindtree together on the backgrounds of their employees found majority of them came from backward areas and extremely rural areas and vernacular background like his own. He also stated that about 12% of the 1 mn force of people in semi-backward and backward areas are working in their industry and it is just a matter of time and opportunity for most of them to get out of poverty. People have "made it" and in future he expects more to "make it".

He narrated the story of Mr.Sajjan Jindal and the "Made in India" controversy as an example of how India has traveled over the years from "Made in India" not selling the product to earning a premium because of "Made in India" written on the products. World Believes if Indians can do smart things like writing programmes they can do anything!!


Neha Chandgothia
Core Committee, IlluminatiX
The XIMB Media and PR Cell
Xavier Institute of Management
Bhubaneswar-751 013
E-mail: media@ximb.ac.in
Website: www.ximb.ac.in/~media
 

Source: E-mail December 28, 2005

published on IndianMBA.com on December 29, 2005

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