Introducing Subhodh Bhargava Chairman of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited & Wartsila India Limited, Rajive Kaul Chairman Board of Governors of XIMB termed him as an exceptional individual to work who has a clear vision and constantly delivers results on any given tasks. “India will become the biggest back office of the world and it will become the third largest economy of the world only after US and China. By 2020, India will have about 60 million cars, 400 million air traffic passengers, 700 million phone connections, 200 Indian MNC, adult literacy of 95 % and contribution of services and industry of about 94% to the country’s GDP. These all will happen at a time when you all will be deeply involved in building a strong and vibrant India,” said Mr Kaul. He gave clear message to the graduating students to be prepared for the challenges ahead as India will be the fastest growing country for another two decades at least.

Delivering convocation address at XIMB the Chief Guest, Subodh Bhargava said, “You are just out from the most enjoyable phase of the life and going to begin a new life, where each one of you have huge expectations, fantasies and apprehensions about the future. At this juncture let me remind you that some dreams in the life come true and some do not. There will always be some good news and some bad news and unlike case studies you will never get a clear picture and complete data to analyze. Let me tell you the real life is very ambiguous and uncertain as change is only constant and uncertainty is only certain in this world.”

Sharing industry insights about the management graduates, Mr Bhargava said, “Perhaps the first challenge you will face is of the industry’s perception about management graduates. Industry people perceive that an MBA graduate has great analysis power by which they mean that he is not practical in his approach. Secondly, he is a good manager and highly independent which means interpersonal skills need to be sharpened. According to them, a management graduate insulates himself or herself to the external environment and not associated much with ground reality of the society.” He recommended students to be prepared to face such situations very soon.

“To be an effective leader, you need to shed know all syndrome as people in the industry are there with or without formal degrees. In the world of multiple choices, choicelessness is what you can expect for yourself. You can not choose your boss, your peer groups and even your team also. Under those circumstances what you need is not the ability but also humility, patience and values,” advised Mr Bhargava.

According to him the business manager of 2020 need inspiration, motivation, walk the talk, analytical and cognitive ability. “As you go along you need much more skills and the most important to me is open mind and ability to learn. You will also learn that experience is a baggage which we have to leave behind. To survive you need to be globally competitive as shape of the business in 2020 will be decided by young mangers of today with their competency and skill and strategy,” he quipped.

During his speech, Mr Bhargava shared some interesting insights about the managerial functions in the pre and post liberalization era. According to him the post liberalization era ushered new challenges for managers- restored management decisions making to mangers along with risk, suddenly Indian managers found new wave of entrepreneurship and for the first time, Indian mangers started thinking strategically.

In his concluding remarks Mr Bhargava said, “Learning to accept changes is the most difficult part of the life, empowerment is a tool which the Indian manager is yet to learn. You need to develop skills and competence to cope with challenges of the corporate life. During this process you might take risks, failure is inherent but it should disappear in the night and each new day presents new challenges. Believe in your skills, competency and confidence to succeed in the life.”