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Harshavardhan Chitale
Harshavardhan Chitale, the Head,
Corporate Strategy and Business Development
of Tata Honeywell has been a brilliant
student all through his life. He completed
his Electrical Engineering from IIT
Delhi in 1993. He received the
"Director's Gold Medal"
for being the best all round student amongst
all the departments in the graduating batch
of 1993. Recruited by Tata  Administrative
Services, he was the first Engineering
graduate to be selected directly from campus
by the esteemed organization. He started
his career in
Tata Honeywell in 1994 as a Product
Manager and has, in a short span of six
years, risen to his present post.
Poonabest.com spoke to Harsh to find out
just what is it that makes this young high-flyer
tick - excerpts from the interview
Q. TAS is known to recruit only Management
Graduates, as an engineer how did you join
this prestigious organization?
A. I was actually the first person
to join TAS from an engineering institute,
in fact I had got admission into IIM Ahmedabad
in 1993 but I opted to join TAS. Not being
sure how TAS would turn out after the probationary
period for a non MBA
like me, the following year too, I secured
admission in IIM-A , but once again opted
out.
Q. Your
decision to turn down the admission to such
a prestigious institute seems almost reckless
.Was it an impulsive decision or was there
any other reason for opting out?
A. In 1994, when I was posted to TATA
Honeywell, I was appointed as a Product
Manager and had a lot of responsibilities
thrust on me. This is the charm of a TAS appointment.
The immense opportunity the job offers in
terms of responsibilities and scope for taking
independent decisions. It would easily take
a good 5 to 7 years in other organizations
to get such highly responsible jobs. As far
as Management education is concerned, I reckoned,
I could always pick it up on the way, by reading
books and teaching oneself. Job experience
also helps a great deal.
Q. Your first posting in Tata Honeywell
was as a Product
Manager - what was your opinion on your appointment?
A. It was a great feeling to know
that the company had given me this splendid
opportunity to prove myself. My boss, by having
selected me, had obviously reposed a lot of
faith in my abilities and I just had to prove
him right.
Q. Your have steadily moved up the ladder
of hierarchy in Tata Honeywell. Could you
tell us something about your assignments?
A. In 1995 I became the Marketing
Manager of one of the Business Units of the
company. In 1997 I was appointed Head of the
business unit. 15-20% of the total turnover
and profit of the company came from this unit.
By the time I left this Unit to take up the
present assignment, the turnover of the unit
had grown four times in as many years.
 Q.
As head of an important business unit, what
was the kind of responsibilities you handled?
A. I had all the functions under me
- Sales, Marketing, Project Engineering, and
Working Capital Management. When I took over,
as the head of this particular business unit,
there were 50 people working under me. Most
were young, qualified engineers and the job
taught me man management.
Q. How was the initial period as the
Head?
A. When I joined this particular unit
as Head, most people did not want a posting
to this particular unit. It was a small division,
where there was no growth, no future. My first
task was to instill a sense of pride in the
division. To keep the morale high, I had to
ensure that the Division did well. This we
achieved by getting into new products and
solutions through alliances with other partners.
Q. Can you tell us about one successful
product launch?
A. Terminal Automation was one such
successful launch. It was put together with
components from different manufacturers. Terminal
Automation is a Automation Solution for oil
and gas depots. Three years after its launch
in 1998, it now contributes
Rs 40 crore of sales out of a total company
turnover of 300 crores. The product enjoys a 70% market share in the
country today.
Q. Your next move within the organization
was Head - Corporate Strategy and Business
Development -
was it a planned one or did it just happen?
A. The next move was a planned one.
By the end of 1998 Tata Honeywell had emerged
as clear number one, but
market growth had come down due to recession.
To avoid stagnation, we had to continually
think of new ideas, new plans.
This new division was created primarily
to identify new areas of growth. We also established
a formal procedure of Strategic planning.
By strategic planning I mean, every year we
plan for the next three years. We identify
new areas-new units to get into.
Q. What were the new areas that your
company has got into?
A. One of the areas that we have got
into is the Total Security Solution. These
devices along with Tata Honeywell's expert
consultancy will now help make homes and small
commercial establishments safe from mishaps
involving burglary, gas leaks, fires or sudden
medical emergencies. We have formed a new
company which is a joint venture with Group
4 Securitas called Central Monitoring
Services that will provide round the clock
monitoring, and response service in the home
and commercial segments across six Indian
cities. The service will provide not only
monitoring of security of homes and commercial
establishments but a response team that will
provide necessary help in case of any kind
of emergency. Both these services were launched
in early part of last year.
We are also offering to the customer mainly
in the manufacturing sector, complete supply chain management solution,
ERP Packages, CRM, SCM Web Based Solutions
Intranet and Extranet based Solutions.
We have also acquired Honeywell product business
rights for the SAARC region.
 Q.
TAS was once the flavor of all campus placements.
However, it no longer enjoys the kind of position
it once did on campus. Your comments?
A. 1993 -1994 was the last of the
premium years of TAS. This is partly because
of the kind of pay other MNCs were offering.
For example till 1993, TAS Would be on most
campuses on Day 1 of recruitment. Now I believe
the situation has changed with the competition
from campuses from high paying MNCs and foreign
consultancy firms. But there is a renewed
focus within the Tata Group on TAS
as a part of the group HR strategy and with
unmatched multi-industry / multi-functional
learning opportunity and the high responsibility
that TAS offers, I am sure that TAS would
be able to regain its premium image on campuses.
Q. I believe your wife is also a successful
professional, would you like to tell us something
about her?
A. My wife is a CA and is presently
a Manager with SB Billimoria and Company in
Pune. Earlier she worked with KPMG in Mumbai.
Q. What are your favorite pastimes?
A. I'm an avid sportsman. I play Table
Tennis, Badminton and am the captain of the
companies cricket team.
Q. Who is your favourite sports man?
A. I am fond of Sachin Tendulkar.
Q. Apart from sports, do you have any
other interests?
A. My wife and I are both film buffs.
We go to the theatre at least once a week
to watch a movie. We enjoy both English and
Hindi films. My favourite Film stars are Aamir
Khan and Aishwarya Rai, my wife is fond of
Hrithik Roshan.
Q. Any particular kind of food you enjoy?
A. Not really. We like to try out
any food that is interesting and as long it
is pure vegetarian fare.
Q. Being vegetarian, is it not difficult
for you to find good eating places - especially
when you travel?
A. It is a fallacy that one cannot
get good vegetarian food. I went to China
and was able to get vegetarian food without
any difficulty.
Q. Since you are both busy professionals,
do you get a chance to take a break?
A. As it is difficult for both of
us to get a long leave at the same time we
make it a point to take off for a couple of
days. Mahableshwar is our favorite holiday
spot. It being close by helps.
Interview: Rahul Surkund
Photo Courtesy: H Chitale |
