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Achyut Godbole
Social work, music, Information Technology -
Godbole, MD, Concio Technologies, has seen it, done
it all.
Achyut S. Godbole is the Managing Director of Concio
Technologies. An amazing personality, he has emerged
tops in whichever field he has chosen to enter,
be it Social work, Music or IT. His stint as a committed
social worker, fighting for the rights of the Adivasis
in Maharashtra had him spend some time behind bars,
a musician par excellence, he has been awarded the
Kumar Gandharva award for his contribution to music
and today he heads Concio Technologies, a major
player in the IT world.
Poonabest had the pleasure of speaking to him. Excerpts
of the interview.
Could you tell us something about your academic
background?
I am a national merit scholar. I stood
16th in the SSC Board Examination and won the first
prize in the state of Maharashtra for Maths and
Arithmetic. After my schooling, I completed my B.Tech.
from IIT Bombay in Chemical Engineering in 1972.
Can you tell us something about your initial
working years?
I began by taking up social work. I worked for the
Adivasis and during this period even spent 10 days
in jail. My next stint was with a Plastic Factory;
I worked as a Supervisor on a princely salary of
Rs.175/- per month. It was software next and I have
worked for over 26 years in the software industry
in India, UK and USA. I have been instrumental in
building two companies viz., PCS and Syntel from
their original small strengths to a workforce of
around six hundred.
From a supervisory role in a factory to the
IT field how did you make the transition?
After a while in the plastic factory, I wanted to
move on and so decided to quit. I gave an aptitude
test for computers in a textile company and was
selected. A colleague remarked that if I had been
in an American company like IBM I would have been
sacked. This callous remark made me determined to
join IBM and prove him wrong. By sheer luck or providence
as you may choose to call it, IBM was scouting around
for Indian Computer professionals. I gave the aptitude
test and was selected.
Can you recount other incidents that reflect
your indomitable spirit?
A colleague once rebuked me about my Marathi accented
English. I have studied in a Marathi Medium school
so the accent could not be helped. However, his
remark made me determined to increase my vocabulary
and knowledge of the language. I bought a number
of books that helped me in my endeavour. I am a
firm believer in putting my heart and soul into
a job. To illustrate my point, when I was in IBM,
I had to do an Accounting software package so I
learnt Accounts up to the B.Com level. Now I conduct
two-day seminars on the topic. The same happened
regarding MRP II/ERP, I designed and developed a
package in the UK, which I implemented in many European
Countries. In PCS, I had to do more work on operating
systems software than applications software so I
immediately started reading books on the subject.
Incidentally my predecessor in the job in PCS was
Mr. N Murthy, who left to set up Infosys. Today
my book on Operating Systems published by TATA McGraw
Hill is in its 5th reprint.
Before joining Concio, what was your last
assignment?
I was the Chief Executive of L&T Information
Technology Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of L&
T Ltd. I transformed it from a cost centre to a
profit centre. The professional strength of LTITL
had increased from 500 to 800 and the company's
sales turnover had grown to Rs.91 crores from Rs.54
crores within a year of my entry.
Why did you switch to Concio and who are its
India promoters?
Prakash Bhalerao, a well-known software personality
in the US, was instrumental in my switch to Concio.
Mr.Sushant Patnaik is the Promoter of the Indian
company.
Can you tell us something about Concio India?
The company is headquartered in Mumbai, with software
development centers in Pune and Bangalore. The company
has 100 people working for it, due to the slowdown
in the software industry, we will probably grow
to 150 to 160 people by the end of this financial
year.
What are the strengths of Concio? What areas
do you all wish to concentrate on?
The strengths of Concio are the on site, off site
and off shore model. We have an American face to
the whole thing, marketing is America based and
development is in India .We wish to concentrate
mainly on Finance and Telecom, as we believe there
is a lot of potential in both these areas.
What in your opinion is the reason for the
slowdown in the Software sector, particularly in
the US?
The reason for the slowdown is two fold. Firstly,
there is a general economic slow down in the country
so most company IT budgets are being cut. Besides,
the Dot Com bust has made people apprehensive about
investing in the IT Sector.
The slow down has thrown a spike into the
Indian Software Companies race ahead, what should
the industry do to get out of it?
We will have to move up the software value chain
and understand how American Business works. The
US businesses have to accept Indian businesses like
they accepted KPMG. We should move up from the low
end programming work that we are presently doing,
to analysis and design, which will involve talking
to the end user. A problem may arise as we are comfortable
doing low-end work but we will have to work around
the problem and move up the value chain especially
if we have to grow and face competition from China.
Since you mention China, there have been reports
that China will be our major competitor in the Software
arena. Your views?
The growth of Chinese Software Companies is undoubtedly
going to affect us. They are importing English teachers
by the dozen so as to make their programmers fluent
in the language. The Chinese will be in the low
end programming work and due to the low salaries
being paid there, their costs will be definitely
lower than ours. In India, salaries have gone up
significantly so our costs are much higher than
the Chinese.
The recent fall in the share values of Software
stocks has left investors in a bind. What is the
reason for the drop in share prices?
You cannot call it a fall, as now the stocks
are being traded at a price range they should have
traded at the beginning. Earlier the stocks were
overvalued and retail investors were lulled into
buying stocks at high prices.
What are your other interests apart from running
a company?
I have written a book on Operating Systems and am
in the process of writing one on “Data Communications
and Networking” and another on “ERP”.
To popularize science and computers, I have lectured
extensively at different platforms. I write popular
science columns in leading newspapers and I also
anchor a computer education programme on TV. I am
very fond of music and have had the honour of hobnobbing
with famed personalities like Pandit Jasraj and
Bhimsen Joshi. My music collection has over 2,000
cassettes; my taste in music is very eclectic and
incorporates music from 17 countries
You have been responsible for the phenomenal
growth of three IT companies and currently involved
with the fourth. What do you visualize yourself
doing, say five years from now?
I started my career working with the Adivasis;
I would probably go back to social work. I will
continue to write a few books, devote time to teaching
and spreading education in the IT sector. At some
stage, I would like to pursue a doctorate in Economics
as the subject fascinates me.
And Mr. Godbole is nothing short of a fascinating
personality.
Rahul Surkund |
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