Udyog Sanchetana - April 2023

The HINDI edition of Udyog Sanchetana (H), a Monthly, FREE, eNewsletter since 2014 has completed 9 years with 107th issue in March 2023 and is available at - https://lnkd.in/dbJMW9ky

The English edition of Udyog Sanchetana (E) - April 2023 brings to you –

1.?Heritage of G D Birla 2.?Career Tips

1.?Heritage of G D Birla

Sadhguru says:?“Money is important ?but it doesn’t come to an entrepreneur, because he or she desires. It comes because the person does something well. If one thinks only about money, it means the person is only interested in the consequence, not the process”.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/entrepreneurship-isnt-just-money-game-sadhguru-jv/

Entrepreneurs like Jamshedji Tata, Larsen and Toubro and many other stalwarts perhaps didn’t think about money alone, they had a VISION to create something and when the creation was worthwhile, money followed. At the end of life, one doesn’t carry wealth, but people do remember the wealth creator.

The Business Legacy

Shiv Narayan Birla, a cotton trader from Pilani (Rajasthan) didn’t have children. He adopted Baldev Das Birla, who had 4 sons and Ghanshyam Das Birla, better known as G D Birla, was one among them. Born in 1894, he was a freedom fighter and close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, received Padma Vibhushan in 1957 and died in 1983. There are couple of business houses with Birla tag, but the one that’s more popular is Aditya Birla Group.

GD moved to Kolkata in 1912, started as Broker under the guidance of father-in-law M. Somani, established trading firm Birla Brothers in 1918 and shortly took over an old textile mill in Delhi, his first venture as an industrialist. We wouldn’t go into details of his contributions, but within 10 days of India getting freedom in 1947, GD established GRASIM, because he felt there was need to supplement cotton with synthetic fibre to meet demand for clothing large population.

Basant Kumar Birla was one among 3 sons of GD, who married to Dr. Sarla Birla. Son of BK and Sarla, Aditya Vikram dreamt of setting up global business at the age of 24. He put Indian business on the world map, as far back as 1969, by establishing 19 companies in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Egypt. This was 22 years before economic liberalisation by Narasimha Rao government in 1991,

His companies rose to be the world leaders in viscose staple fibre, the largest refiner of palm oil, the third-largest producer of insulators and the sixth-largest producer of carbon black. Under his stewardship, ?the group in India attained the status of the largest single producer of viscose filament yarn, apart from being a producer of cement, grey cement, rayon grade pulp and the largest producer of aluminium in the private sector in India.

At the time of his untimely demise in 1995, the Group’s revenue had crossed Rs.8,000 crore, comprising 55 plants, an employee strength of 75,000 and a shareholder community of 600,000.

Kumar Mangalam Birla

The legacy of Aditya Birla has been carried forward by his son Kumar Mangalam, who feels – “Great businesses are never built on the quick sands of opportunism.” A quiet crusader, under his leadership the Aditya Birla Group, is in the League of Fortune 500, employing a work force of over 140,000, belonging to 100 nationalities.

The group is today a global powerhouses in a wide range of sectors – metals, pulp and fibre, chemicals, textiles, carbon black, telecom, cement, financial services, fashion, retail and renewable energy. Over 50% of Group revenues flow from overseas operations that span 36 countries in North and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe.

A Quiet Revolution - Birla Carbon

Among some of the well-known group companies like Ultratech, Grasim, Century, Hindalco, a large majority of Job-seekers in India perhaps may not be aware of Birla Carbon that has 16 manufacturing facilities in 12 countries and two state-of-the-art technology centers in Marietta (USA) and Taloja (India). An important industrial material, Carbon Black had international market worth $13.22 billion in 2022 and is forecast to reach $18.09 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 4.6%. The picture shows market share by application segment:

Mainly used to?strengthen rubber in tires, it’s also used as a pigment, UV stabilizer, conductive or insulating agent in variety of applications. Other applications of carbon black include hoses, conveyor belts, plastics, printing inks and automotive coatings etc. Penta Carbon site gives a brief of Carbon Black types and applications. https://pentacarbon.de/en/applications/

Birla Carbon has developed various compounds for tire tread to attain specific properties, where maintaining the balance between wear resistance, rolling resistance and traction is critical. https://www.birlacarbon.com/tires/

Pushing limits of Battery Technology

Among other applications, though the quantities are small, impact is enormous in automobile Batteries. International Energy Agency states that the number of electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the world's roads has tripled between 2018-21. Here, a breakthroughs in battery technology, especially lithium-ion batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to home electronics and storage systems – are playing a big role in driving this demand.

Highly engineered Carbon Black products of Birla Carbon improve the battery energy capacity as well as efficiency of battery production process. These significantly impact battery production costs which directly lead to lower the costs of electric vehicles.

Powering tomorrow, sustainably

Birla Carbon's intensive R&D effort has resulted in various conductive carbon solutions, including Conductex-i carbons, CNT/CB Hybrid materials, graphite anode materials, and ConductexTM e-carbons. Used across lithium-ion and lead acid battery applications, these innovative solutions are boon for battery manufacturers. One could learn more about these products at - ?

https://www.tyrepress.com/2021/09/birla-carbon-launches-conductex-i-and-conductex-e-ranges-for-battery-applications/

?Here's how Birla Carbon's solutions are powering the development of efficient and sustainably manufactured batteries for a wide range of needs:

• ConductexTM i - The Conductex?i?range of carbon materials enables lithium-ion battery manufacturers to address common challenges related to charging rates, energy density, and manufacturing product throughput. With its superior processing characteristics, energy-dense active materials, longer cycle life and efficiency, and extremely high purity, ConductexTM?i?carbons are engineered to meet the needs of electric vehicles and energy storage applications.
• ?CNT/CB Hybrid - Also used in lithium-ion batteries, CNT/CB is a hybrid carbon black/CNT?conductive additive. The product provides increased electrical conductivity and power density to batteries and can also be provided as a pre-dispersion to improve ease of use for battery manufacturers. A pre-dispersion of the CNT/carbon black hybrid materials reduces mixing time for energy and cost savings and also ensures safe material handling. The exceptional behaviour at high voltage during lithium-ion battery cycling provides performance benefits for batteries that demand both a high energy density and high power density .
• Graphite anode materials - Birla Carbon has expanded its battery materials portfolio to include advanced graphite anode active materials. In 2022, the company invested in a graphite manufacturing and post-processing semi-commercial plant in the United States with its new-to-the-world technology to supply graphite anode active materials to battery manufacturers.

Birla Carbon has also partnered with multiple US universities and industry bodies to produce battery-grade graphite (a key component of lithium-ion batteries) from biocrude. The material, called Biocrude Derived Anode Material (BDAM),?offers an innovative and sustainable way to develop graphite, while enhancing circularity for the whole value chain.

There is much more to be learnt about Carbon Black as an Engineering material and Birla Carbon, as a vital unit of Aditya Birla Group at - https://www.birlacarbon.com/

2.?Career Tips

The figures of 7 percent or more unemployment in absolute terms is more than 3 crore. To this about 5 Crore new job seekers get added every year. Its herculean task for any government to get these large numbers engaged. But. at the outset what we should know, who these people are? Labour or educated, skilled artisans or white collar job seekers, freshers or experienced with professional background?

Government approach is indirect, facilitating investment in industry, offering production linked incentives (PLI), encouraging FDI, aiming for 5 Trillion economy and higher GDP growth rate, besides offering schemes like MUDRA, Startup, Standing, Swavalamban, etc. wherein each individual, at least the Educated has to be Self-Dependent or Atmnirbhar in identifying and availing opportunities.

The Employer rating website Glassdoor cuts 15 % jobs, and Stops Hiring according to India Today:?Mar 27, 2023

The tech industry as a whole is going through a rough time. Most of the top tech companies like Meta, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, among many others have fired thousands of employees in multiple rounds of layoffs. Amazon CEO recently announced cutting 9000 more jobs to cut costs. Dublin-based IT company, Accenture, announced cutting 19000 jobs amid tough macroeconomic situations

At this juncture, it’s interesting to see questions like theses on a social media platform:

• How will I reach 30 LPA from a starting package of 5 LPA?
• Is IIT/NIT Tag important to be successful?
• Why is Massachusetts Institute of Technology better than IIT Bombay?
• Why are more people saying not to opt for mechanical engineering?

Such comparison of institutions, advising for branch of engineering, and looking for ways to reach from 5 LPA to 30 LPA (lakh per annum) doesn’t make sense, because individuals differ and its matter of OPPORTUNITY that one may get, while others may not.

It only shows need for early Career Planning, and keeping couple of alternatives in mind, if the first target is missed or there is risk in job at some stage or the other. Hence, its wiser to be ready to face THREATS and be AtmNitbhar keeping in mind that I am responsible for my Career to which i-Career or the Udyog Sanchetana could be of a help.

A recent webinar on the subject could be useful – https://lnkd.in/drEduTX6