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so Chandra thank you so much for joining
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us today my pleasure I wonder if we
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could start by talking a little bit
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about your earliest days in business
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believe you started really in the rice
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business and I wonder if you could tell
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us about your earliest experiences as an
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entrepreneur and what were the lessons
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that you learned then that might benefit
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other entrepreneurs today no my earliest
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first experience was to to pick up my
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family business of converting the whole
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grain into pulses into split pulses
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darling as we call in Hindi Dahle mill
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and when I started that her family had
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lost all the capital there was no
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capital and I was called back from the
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college to come back because week they
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couldn't afford my fees and everything
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and so what I did was a very and market
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was not really giving us credit so but
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still I insisted that I will reinstate
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my business family business and when I
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will go to the Mundy and there is a
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auction of chana for example gram and
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when my bid would be the highest the
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Duke and our will not sell it to me
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because they were afraid that they may
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not get paid so they will sell to the
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lower bidder than me but I would insist
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that I said why are you not selling me
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why are not giving me table to say that
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we they can't wait for a long time to
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get paid I said you don't worry you
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don't have to wait you just really think
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now go to my shop come to my shop take
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your money then we will take delivery so
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what I did was that I built the
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confidence of the people and what I
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would do is when I if I had creditors
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worth 10 lakhs of rupees and if I had
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one lakh of rupees coming as a receipt
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of the sale sale proceed I will go in my
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put it in my bag and I'll go to
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each shop and if I had to pay somebody
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20,000 rupees I'll give them five
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thousand rupees there and then get their
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signature so it became my reputation
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that don't go for recovery of money to
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his shop he as soon as the money comes
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he will automatically pay and he will
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come and pay so there was no then stop
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it so building the confidence of people
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was what gave me the learning great deal
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event and also you were in the rice
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export business which was later on much
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later right and and in the oil business
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as well yes could you help us understand
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a little bit about they are all part of
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the similar thing I will it's all
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agricultural commodity business how do
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you think about identifying new business
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opportunities what are the things you
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look for when you decide this is a
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business I want to enter well pulses oil
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rice they were not new they were family
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trade family businesses but things which
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it started later on were I think it's
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just simply be cautious of we cautious
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of your objective what do you want to do
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and what you want to achieve finally in
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life and I always pursued in my mind
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that I want to be either number one in
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any given business or strong number two
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if I'm not either of the two I will exit
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that business and I have exerted lot of
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businesses which people don't know and
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people don't talk about give us some
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examples of this we used to make I
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bought a factory of Roy a tools hand
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tools making forge tool making
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we couldn't succeed we were one of the
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we were three or fourth number so I
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exited sold the business we started
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molding fiberglass we started making
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bathtub to ceiling fan covers to many
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things but it was again one of many of
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us
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doing that resolves all the business so
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like that it was me how do you evaluate
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potential and the risk what are the
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factors that you look for I look her
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potential when there is a demand of that
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product there is a there is very clearly
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that there is demand of the product that
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has to be first established and is it
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better than the product available if
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these two match then I go for it i sell
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packaging his classical example when we
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set up the factory of laminated tube in
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india in 1981
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whereas this product was first time
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launched in an American market only in
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early 70s but in India when I launched
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the laminated tube business nobody will
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buy because Colgate or Unilever
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everybody said there are 20 supplier
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today why should I change to your tube
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because you will be the only supplier
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and so but but we continuously we
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continued pursuing because it was a
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better product it was it was started a
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local brand started using it then these
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multinational had to come another very
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critical success factor in any starting
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any new business for an entrepreneur is
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their ability to recruit the right
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people
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no one can do everything themselves
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what qualities do you look for I've been
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poor in that respect as I've learned
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over a period of time over 30 years now
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what we pursue is we we look for talent
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rather talent is much more important for
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us over the experience or even skills
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and my our belief in our company is that
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experience can be gained skills can be
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imparted but talents what you what is
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required for doing that job is either
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you have it or you don't have it
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so could you give me any examples of
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mistakes that you have made of this type
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from which you learned I would like to
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avoid that lot of mistakes I've made
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long wrong hiring we are made and we I
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became I was I was labeled rightly or
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wrongly as a hire and fireman which are
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not good even if you if you take take
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away the factor of recruitment in the
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course of your business career what
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would you say is the biggest mistake you
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have made and what did you learn from it
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God have made lot of mistakes there is
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not one if every day you are supposed to
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take twenty decisions and my assessment
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is what I have read in some books also
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that the best decision-maker has been
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sixty percent correct decisions so with
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that sex and soul so and I don't
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consider that I am one of the best so if
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I take 50% decision right then also ten
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decision I'm making wrong but nothing
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immediately comes to my mind which is
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struggling but yes one mistake I
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remember is his 1999 to believe in stock
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market and get carried away
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well you entered the theme-park business
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and and could you help me understand
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what was your strategy and and how you
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went about evaluating the opportunity
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and building that part of your
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operations well SL Packaging was out of
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the red red by 1987-88 and I had this
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land purchased in lying in Bombay so as
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I was unemployed so we're looking at
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what to do next so this land came into
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my mind and what can be done over it so
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amusement park is one of the land
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development permission permissible in
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that area and that's a night felt that
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there is Bombay city or even India a lot
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of people do not have a fair and clean
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and healthy entertainment so that's why
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we built the amusement park
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you of the the tremendous success of
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course in your career has been the
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launch of Zee television and I wonder if
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you could help us understand the process
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through which you were able to decide to
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enter this business what were some of
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the challenges you faced in dealing with
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the government for example and what
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entrepreneurs can learn through your
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experience in this regard well the first
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challenge first not first I would say
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the major challenge there was that there
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was no regulation in India or regulation
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whatever was there this sector of
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television broadcasting was reserved for
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public sector and when I when we used to
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see during Gulf War CNN in some of the
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hotels so when the advice legal advice
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was given you cannot start it so what I
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pursued was I didn't take that for a for
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an answer a right answer
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I kept questioning then why CNN is
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coming why this is happening so they
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said this foreign country so why can't I
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start from foreign country so the
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learning what I had Ross I succeeded
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because of that taking no for an ode for
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an answer and kept pursuing kept
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pursuing and finally got the answer
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what are some of the elements that you
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had to put in place to build Z to where
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it is today and what kind of skills in
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yourself did you have to develop in
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order to transition to running business
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of a different size and different
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dimension well first and foremost what
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helped me in in making the business
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successful is that I always looked at
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every program whichever we used to
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Commission because I used to Commission
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myself the programs I used to look at it
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as a viewer note as a chairman of the
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television station that helped me and
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secondly I had read in one of the
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magazine that's a very successful
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director of Hollywood have said that if
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anybody knows that what will work with
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the viewers what kind of film will work
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or what kind of entertainment will work
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he is fooling themselves so he said
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nobody knows what will work so I pursued
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their theory which made me to be
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successful subsequently the business
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grew to large size fairly quickly but at
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the same time it was growing and then
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you were growing also with it team was
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being built alongside to what degree
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does international competition constrain
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the kind of things that you are able to
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do that you would like to do how do you
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compete with really large companies like
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we are competing with everybody no we
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are not intimidated by the big large
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multinational companies what is your
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competitive strategy how do you position
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yourself in a unique way to be able to I
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tell my people that be responsive to the
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viewers be listen to them what they are
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saying so don't think that whatever you
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are giving program
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humming is is the right programming I
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mean then only you you will be able to
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be and don't look at what competition is
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doing you do your job that competition
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follow you
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so today the structuring we did know the
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business is from the beginning was
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followed by everybody in the industry
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today what program we do Z does they may
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be people follow this if you look at the
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media industry the world over it seems
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to be in complete turmoil the Internet
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the absence of ability to charge for
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content has created havoc even in the
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places like the US how do you see the
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global media landscape unfolding and do
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you see it as a where do you see the
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opportunities in this landscape yeah
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there will be again the what what way
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the media industry is being run today
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will not be any more valid for 10-15
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years from now and we have to be very
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very clear and adoptive towards the
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consumer needs money will follow if we
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change money it never comes up in your
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keynote speech at Wharton India Economic
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Forum earlier today you were talking
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about the role of media in raising
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people's expectations and also the fact
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that this can create discontent among
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people who don't have high incomes what
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do you think is the solution for
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bringing about more inclusive growth do
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you have any say on our part on our part
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what we have to do is when we on one
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side when we are showing certain
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affluence on the screen and people get
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want to have those effort things and
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good things on the other side we should
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also equally be showing them how hard
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work
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only can get you these things listen
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there are no shortcut to getting these
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things so both the things if we do we
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will be balancing our job I have one
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last question for you over your the
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course of your business career what
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would you say is the biggest leadership
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challenge that you have faced and how
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did you overcome it and what did you
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learn from it
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biggest leadership challenge basically
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the I mean the the human resource
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development is the biggest challenge to
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get a first and foremost to select right
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people and secondly then nurture them
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and develop them which is which is what
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is required out of leadership so we have
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yet to achieve those excellence in that
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area so I have learned that there's a
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weakness but we still have to fix it we
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are working towards it you standard
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thank you so much for speaking with us
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thank you very much and wish you all the
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very best
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thank like thank you for having me
00:16:52
you
