Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimani Co-Founders Swiggy

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="col-md-3"> <div class="jobs-industry-managers"> <div style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimani" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Nandan-Reddy-Sriharsha-Majety-Rahul-Jaimani.jpg" width="171" /></div> <strong> </strong></div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> No matter what, deliver food from the best restaurants nearby, deliver food with no minimum guarantee required, and fast delivery: these are the guiding principles of one of the country’s leading food-tech companies – Swiggy. Add one more to that you’re your order pipe-line is clogged i.e. there are too many orders, then don’t take them. This has, so far, ensured that each order is delivered within 30 minutes – thus adhering to the main three at all times. And it has worked wonderfully well in this high-margin market.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The fact that in just two years since inception, it has had three rounds VC funding speaks a lot of the confidence of the investors in Swiggy’s business model and the vision of its co-founders, Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimani – who all have had their education from some of the premier institutions of the country (Sriharsha Majety – BITS Pilani & IIM Calcutta; Rahul Jaimani – IIT Kharagpur; Nandan Reddy – Bits Pilani).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>The terrific trio</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A bit about the co-founders: Sriharsha, after schooling from Vijayawada, went on to complete his engineering (Master’s) from the prestigious Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences (BITS –Pilani) and them followed it up with a master in business management from the world renowned Indian Institute of Management (IIM –Calcutta or Kolkata as it is now known as). This son of businessman and a practicing doctor, he joined a company called Nomura Securities (working in its London office) after his MBA from IIM, with the thought that he would return to India after an year or so and set-up his own business. It ran in his blood, you see.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However before he could do, he had always been wishing to travel places and explore the world at a slow pace – on a bicycle. He did it alone – travelled many countries spanning three continents, partly on foot, partly, hitch-hiking, partly using local public transportation where conditions were trying.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After having travelled around many countries on his bicycle, made friends, understanding their cultures, and returning enriched with life’s experiences across the globe, it was time to go about his plans for setting up a business. It was time to give the entrepreneur in him the time to express himself fully.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He brought along his mate from BITS Pilani Nandan Reddy and the duo together started a service called – Bundl Technologies,basically a logistics aggregator for e-commerce companies. Probably they had miscalculated or the situation wasn’t right for that kind of a service, it didn’t take off like the founders wanted it to and it was shut down in June, 2014.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The two of them were down but not out. They knew that is initial set-back was only a stepping stone for harnessing their potential and making something new and different. After much deliberation they hit upon the idea of a hyperlocal delivery business. This was one area where they realized there were no players offering a complete food ordering and delivery service – that too location-based and quick.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> This switch wasn’t anything new for Sriharsha who had switched between jobs as indeed his travel expedition where there was no specific route planned – as he himself reportedly said,“There was no route per se and in between, I took many de tours while visiting Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece, ultimately pedaling through a distance of 3400 kms.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> They also realized that they need additional hands – driven as well as who shared the same vision as theirs and who were willing to go the distance with them, come what may. Thus they roped in Rahul Jaimini – an IIT-Kharagpur graduate who had already worked at a few tech start-ups by then and had done well. He had worked for NetApp with their Data Protection Group where he was responsible for developing, testing and maintaining storage products ensuring maximum data recovery in case of a disaster through intricate real-time replications. This was followed by a stint at Myntra (now part of Flipkart) where he was entrusted with leading development efforts for the strategy team in revenue/conversion boosting efforts. (He was opined that deliverables were always end-to-end in order to ensure that product roadmaps don't get affected on account of strategic enhancements).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> This experience was to prove very handy when the BITS Pilani duo of Sriharsha and Nandan Reddy roped him in and started work on the platform. The company, Bundl Technologies was retained as the umbrella under which their hyperlocal delivery business would operate. They started building the platform which they called as Swiggy in August 2014.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Initial days and Funding</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The company was initially boot-strapped and it had to really work to make sure its business model and the customer takeaways were clearly understood by the target customers. So, the trio wanted to make sure their employees also shared their values and guiding principles so they themselves personally handpicked the initial staff (Sriharsha alone selected 50 of them).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> This continued until April 2015 when they got their first investment from SAIF Partners and Accel Partners of #2 million. This was enough to help expand and improve the service. Then, in June of the same year, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) pitched in with Series B funding of $16.5 million which proved to be the huge fillip required by Swiggy for scaling its operations or rather services beyond Bengaluru. With subsequent rounds of funding amounting to $75.5 M (that’s already clocking a valuation of about $300 M), the company was able to spread to various other cities – it is now providing services in eight Indian cities – Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai with over 5,000 restaurants listed on its platform.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Technology Transformation</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Based on the ground experience, Swiggy was continuously refined and even modified greatly to meet the myriad idiosyncrasies of the delivery personnel. In due course, it transformed into something that was very easily understood by the delivery team which now understands ever so easily as to where to pick the food from and where exactly to deliver the order.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Sriharsha, who is also the company’s CEO, and his team are reasonably confident that the time is not far when a restaurant’s online orders will outnumber its offline sales, especially in metropolitan cities like Bengaluru. That bodes well for them as currently only about 3% of the global food business is done online – while they are yet to penetrate in most regions of the country, the founders know they, more than any other contemporaries in the Indian market, are likely to get a greater share of the pie. It is vindicated by numbers and the fact that what Swiggy achieved in a mere 2 years is much more than some already established players such as FoodPanda and Zomato – although their business model is different from that of Swiggy.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Another aspect that differentiates Swiggy is that its business is very dinner-heavy. While this differentiation is good to talk about – like a good chunk of Indians who order food online during evening are more likely to go for Swiggy than other providers – the fact remains that a good amount if business remains untapped by not being active or popular during the day time.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Hence, looking to diversify the supply, the trio then came up with a novel program called Swiggy Express where food is curated by experts (gourmet) and also it is working on decreasing the delivery time to 20 minutes – that’s why Swiggy Express. To top it all, they are looking at the pricing as well so that combination of gourmet-food, really quick delivery at lowered prices can bring in the much-desired day-time sales which could act like a multiplier effect for the company.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Growth</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Inspite of the fact that without any burn, Swiggy has been able to achieve 5x to 6x growth rate since its inception, the founders know that without much order activity during day-time, they are still a long way to skim the market, so to say. That is why Swiggy Express makes for sound business expansion as dinner orders, are by nature, very discretionary; whereas day-time orders (which are the business-hours orders making it imperative for the food to arrive in real quick time) – if the Swiggy Express model is successful – can be commoditized. Swiggy wants to be the go-to platform for customer wanting to order food – 365 days of the year and regardless of the working hours. That is when the idea of commoditizing Swiggy will become a reality for the awesome three-some from Bengaluru.</div> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody> <tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><span style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">Quotes</span></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“I was switching between careers. In 2008, I embarked on my first bag-packing and went on a two month-long vacation in South East Asia and met a friend in Germany who had just completed his travel by bicycle in Eastern Europe. The idea seemed as crazy as exhilarating and I was already planning my own cycling tour.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“I would have slept in 60 different homes in these six months.” Talking about his cycling expedition that he took up in 2008 spanning Africa, Asia & Europe.<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“When already we decided to shut Bundl, we knew we have to dive into hyperlocal delivery and give it a shot. We also understood that ordering platforms for restaurants were very broken. Ordering food has always been a big hassle, and hence, we decided to take the plunge and fix it with Swiggy.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“The size of the Indian restaurant sector is pegged at $50 billion and is growing at a fast clip. The percentage of delivery in this market is witnessing a steep increase and should see tremendous growth. The familiarisation of the masses with home delivered food is contributing largely to the growth rate.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div>

Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimani Co-Founders Swiggy

No matter what, deliver food from the best restaurants nearby, deliver food with no minimum guarante...

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Adhil Shetty Co-Founder & CEO BankBazaar.com

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="col-md-3"> <br /><div class="jobs-industry-managers"> <div style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Adhil Shetty" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Adhil-Shetty.jpg" width="171" /></div> <strong> </strong></div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> There are many instances in the history of mankind wherein adversities have forced us humans to express our ingenuity in overcoming the adverse situations and predicaments. Don’t they say that need is the mother of invention and all the folklore that goes to substantiate it is proof that we humans have in always found ways to not only overcome difficult situations but even make good of them. There are many such instances even in the recent history of Indian entrepreneurship – from the Deepinder Goyal-led Zomato, Ritesh Agarwal-led OYO Rooms (Quality guest rooms in hotels at affordable prices), Shashank ND-Led Practo technologies (Online health-care search), to Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola cabs (taxi hailing) - to name a few all of whom hit upon the idea or were forced to find a way that eventually became successful businesses.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In pretty much the same scenario lie the roots of India’s first and the most successful online marketplace, www.bankbazaar.com , where you can access customized rate quotes on loans, credit cards or personal finance products such as insurance policies, bank loans and credit card offers and do much more – without the neither the traditional formality hassles nor the procedural delays coming in the way of easy access to loans and other financial products and services of a myriad of providers in the country.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> While it would be naïve to credit just one person behind this grand success story of the Indian fintech market, we can safely assume that the CEO and one of the co-founders, Adhil Shetty, has had a fair amount of contribution in bringing the idea (which was floated to him by somebody else) to reality.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Roots of the enterprise called BankBazaar</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> BankBazaar is seemingly a family affair but by no means a family business. It just so happens that it was co-founded by 3 members of a family. Brothers Adhil Shetty and Arjun Shetty and Rati Rajkumar (Arjun’s wife and Adhil’s sister-in-law, so to say) decided to build this platform quite by default. If they were to go by design, then the trio had envisaged that they would, after completing their time in the USA, embark on a journey home and settle down into doing something – that something was still unknown to them by the time they were forced to find a way (positively) vent out their frustration with the Indian system of banking and its procedural cumbersomeness, as well as make sure no others had to go through the pain they had to while seeking a home loan.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adhil’s brother Arjun and Rati returned to Indian in end-2007 after having been in the land of dreams and done their bit to add to its value and the enterprise it promises to the world, and settle down in their motherland. In doing so, they wanted to avail a home loan and sought the same from the banks providing them the option. To their dismay and vexation, they found that it isn’t easy to get a home-loan without going through the unwarranted yet very mandatory procedures (which they considered as undue) that left them high-and-dry. They struggled to get through many of the requirements and delays in order to get their application approved.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Everything was physically stored, they would not accept soft copies, and documentation for due-diligence itself took many days before the application could proceed further in the formalities. Hassled by all this and disappointed that in this age and at this stage of development, the country-folk were still forced to put up with the non-sense of only delays for no-reason even when everything about the application was seemingly clear and verified.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> That is when the couple decided they’ve got to do something to address this. Especially Arjun, who had had experience of the co-branded credit card program of Amazon, was keen on bringing in something helpful to all. After some deliberation, with their technology back-grounds, the couple came up with the idea to offer an online service that could help people themselves and all those wanting to secure a loan ever-so-easily from banks.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Enter Adhil into the picture</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adhil, who is only a year older than Arjun, was sounded out by Arjun and Rati about this enterprise that they wanted to get going with. Adhil joined in after mulling over it for just about a week or so and packed his bags to return to India for good.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> While the plan was there to come back home, he hadn’t per say decided about when or why. But, a call from his brother talking about the pains he faced and also the possibility of doing something useful for the common people – it all made sense to Adhil who was then working at Deloitte as a team member. In fact, it even made business sense – there was virtually no-one in the country offering such a service (there were already E-Loans in the US).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> So, there was need, opportunity and above all the satisfaction that they were about to do something unique in the country.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>The beginnings</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The Shetty brothers and Rati now set about getting the platform up and running as soon as possible. They put in personal money to the tune of Rs.45 Lakhs and set-shop in Chennai. The choice of the location was simple, they had been educated there and had their friends’ circle there who were more than willing to support the start-up.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> From the beginning itself the roles were clear – with all three having worked for big companies and with the backgrounds they had, the trio organized itself as if it were a big company.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adhil was entrusted with CEO responsibilities where he handles Sales, Business Development, Finance, HR and Investors while Arjun as COO handles the operations, technology and customer service, while Rati is the Chief Product Officer – so there was clear demarcation of responsibilities. They approached many banks after building the product and finally convinced ING Vaisya and shortly after HDFC bought into the idea and agreed to align. Soon after many others joined in.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Education and jobs before BankBazaar</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Before going to the US to pursue his Master’s degree in International Relations (with a specialization in International Finance and Business from Columbia University in the City of New York), Adhil (as indeed Arjun) did a Bachelors in Engineering from the College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University while he had his schooling from the Don Bosco School.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> His first job was as an engineer at Cisco Systems which was followed by his experience as a team member at the leading global consulting and professional services firm, Deloitte Consulting (US East Alliance) – an experience that would stand in good stead for him as well as the company growth.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Acceptance and Growth of BankBazaar</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The concept almost a decade ago was unheard of in the country. Thus, it was that much more difficult for the Adhil and Co. to convince people to use especially when it came to financing their loan needs. Adhil knew that even before the customers, it was the banks who need to buy and embrace the idea of an online application and processing. The banks after looking at the team Adhil had put together – he himself hired the first few employees and made sure that quality and user experience was given the utmost priority while building the platform.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Once that was done, it was upto Adhil to go convince bankers to align- which he did successfully. Then came the challenge of acceptance from the people who mattered the most – customers.For this, they marketed extensively by advertising aggressively on the internet which got the company its initial customers through Google Ads.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adhil made sure that timely investments came in and the company without ever compromising on the premise on which it was built.After an expected slow start, the company grew dramatically from December 2013 to July 2015 during which period it grew 5x in transaction volume (largely home loans 90%).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Headquartered in Chennai, today it has offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gurgaon and also set up its international headquarters in Singapore in February 2016 where it is investing SGD 1 million to scale up technology and build an international team.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adhil and team today have a 10% market share of the country’s loan market of Rs 300,000 crore (Rs 3 trillion) a year. Partnering with leading banks,financial institutions, and insurance companies such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, PNB HFL, CITI, Standard Chartered,LIC HFL, DHFL, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Aegon Religare, Bharti Axa, Bajaj Alliance, L&T, Iffco Tokio, Apollo Munich(and others) and backed fully by VC funds including Walden International and Sequoia Capital,it offers instant rate quotes on loans, credit cards, savings and insurance products and helped disburse loans in the range of Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) in retail loans.</div> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left; width: 100%px;"><tbody> <tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><span style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">Quotes</span></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"The idea was to change the huge paper work in India. Our idea was to start an online website that will be integrated with banks. Because of the electronic processing, we could give a comparison of say, five best deals in the market."<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"The first thing we want to do in the next few years is, make people think of us when they think of a loan. Then, we want to introduce other financial products like insurance."<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"I'm out to be the “Make-My-Trip of the Financial Services World”!<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"The most important thing is to find a good team. They must remember that starting maybe easy but execution takes a long time. It takes 5-10 years to build a world class company. So, be patient"<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"Today, when a problem comes up, we look at the process to deal with the problem; it's not about individuals any more.<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Earlier, the confidence came from the idea and passion but today, the confidence comes from people and the process."<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“We are investing heavily to deliver paperless financial transactions.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Once you raise external funds, you are accountable for it. You need to scale up operations and give your investors an exit, for the belief they have shown.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Whatever you do, be sure to give it 100%. Any time you look back, you should be able to answer to yourself honestly that you gave your best shot to whatever you did. There shouldn't be a compromise.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div>

Adhil Shetty Co-Founder & CEO BankBazaar.com

There are many instances in the history of mankind wherein adversities have forced us humans to expr...

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Punit Goenka MD & CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="col-md-3" style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><div class="jobs-industry-managers"> <div style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Punit Goenka" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Punit-Goenka.jpg" width="171" /></div> <strong> </strong></div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Someday I want people to point to Subhashji and say, ‘That’s Punit Goenka’s father’. That’s my only goal in life. I want that recognition once.”This quote is actually the expression of a secret desire by one of the scions of the Essel Group, Punit Goenka, who helms the media and entertainment businesses of the group (his younger brother Amit Goenka is entrusted with overseeing the group’s non-media businesses).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After close to a decade of leading the Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) – he took over as CEO in 2008- we can safely predict that sooner rather than later, he may well realise that goal. Some evidence of the fact that he is moving in the right direction towards achieving that secret goal is this – He has lead ZEE in achieving a multitude of milestones and prestigious awards that have elevated the brand to that of a global player. Some of these include the Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Award (2015), IMC Fusion Award for Excellence in Media(2013), and Businessworld Infocom ICT Award (2012). Always with an eye on the future, and the razor-sharp business acumen that he inherited from his father, Zee has achieved global stature in the new media domain which is manifested in the expansion of the company's international presence across 169 countries, and its reach to close to a billion viewers.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Education and introduction to the family business</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Punit Goenka, the eldest son of the highly successful entrepreneur-par-excellence, and chairman of the Essel Group, did his Bachelors of Commerce (B.Com.) from the Mumbai University in 1995.Admittedly, by the time he was ready to be inducted into the family business (out of choice, no one – not even his super-imposing father, forced him to enter the business), things were not even remotely close to being as adverse as they were for his father – who started his grain trading business in the Hissar town of Haryana (though he was born in Rajasthan, the family had moved to Haryana looking for greener business pastures) with a mere Rs.17 in his pocket (that’s less than a quarter dollar) and made it big with his shrewdness, superlative acumen, and vision.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, he wasn’t straight-jacketed into a leadership role. Punit Goenka was groomed and mentored by his father to, eventually, helm the affairs of his media business.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Punit Goenka headed Zee Telefilms Ltd (1995 -1997) - a music division of ZEEL thatengaged in audio/video music album publication. Then he was tasked with running Dish TV (erstwhile ASC Enterprises Ltd.) where he served as its Vice President Operations (for 3 years since 1997).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>ZEEL</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After serving Dish TV (was a director there until 2007), he was brought into the group’s most successful and flagship company – Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., as its Network Operating Officer in 2005 - where he also served as the Head of Zee TV & Cinema (part of ZEEL).One cannot find fault with anyone for being awestruck as well as feeling a bit intimidated by the super-successful Subhash Chandra, even if he is your father. So, when Punit realized he needed to take control of Zee TV’s day-to-days operations and the decisions thereof, he had to seize them from his father – albeit through a request. One can imagine his plight when he says how scary it was to go and express his ideas to his father.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It took him months to approach his father, after which he mustered enough courage to go and ask his father to let him take decisions for taking forward the media company. The senior, being the visionary, looked upon this as the coming of age of his eldest son and very whole-heartedly allowed him the freedom and confidence to take decisions.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Among all the things that the scion inherited from his, the one that has stood out and has served him and the company well has been his modus-operandi of creating consensus and then going with it.That means, apart from banking on his own capabilities, he also trusted the core-group that had also been with his father through the journey of the company’s journey as India’s first non-state-owned television company to becoming the $3 billion conglomerate that is into myriad of business from online gaming, news, television, infrastructure, etc.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Success, competition, and diversification</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Punit has been able keep the distinction of ZEEL from other media companies by exercising a vice-like grip on cost and focus on profits. What it has meant is that, inspite of the so many media companies eating into the pie of the Indian media business, Punit has been able to ward off competition where it matters the company most and keeping it well and truly in the race for achieving his father’s goal of taking ZEEL into the top-ten of global media houses.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It hasn’t been easy to say the least. Amidst sustained competition from both local as well as international media players, what would otherwise have spelt doom for so many others (as it has indeed been for some), Punit has very masterfully orchestrated the diversification of the company’s offerings into various other segments and sub-segments, ushering it into the digital age.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Along the way he has had to align and re-align the business model that had worked so well under his father, to meet the dynamics of a nation that has gone increasing digital with the onset of multiple service providers making it easy for the country-folk to consumer media content in so many ways that could not have been imagined during the company’s hey-days when his father helmed it.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>Going digital and international through localization</strong></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> While diversifying its offerings to meet the demands of anet-savvy audience was in-line with the trends, one of the key decisions ZEEL took under Punit’s leadership was to go international by offering Indian, particularly Bollywood content to the rest of the world – in their language. Something that was missed by the other leading industry players.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> This worked really well and contributed greatly to the revenues of the company, so much so that ZEEL now aims to clock a major portion of its revenues through its international offerings.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Another shrewd strategy that Punit Goenka embarked upon that has helped ZEEL sustain its position on the domestic front has been to focus on regional audience – tying up with locals and creating and offering local content as opposed to the other players who seem (so far) to be content playing national. On the digital front, there’s a Netflix-like offering called Ditto TV – which offers video content (and the like) on a low-cost subscription basis – the business seeing some good traction so far.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> No wonder then that many observers believe Punit to have transformed ZEEL it into a well-oiled and profitable business without ever compromising on quality. And why would he not - he is known to be an out-and-out people person and a go-getter who knows how to get the best out of his team. It seems that while the great new business ideas always come from Subhash Chandra – who is difficult to approach, it is Punit’s responsibility to bring enthusiasm into the business so as to implement those wonderful ideas of his father, which have (barring a couple) almost always worked.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left; width: 100%px;"><tbody> <tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;"> <strong>Other associations</strong></div> </td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Independent Director at Prozone Intu Properties Limited since April 20, 2012</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as a Director of Broadcast Audience Research Council </td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Chairman of Broadcast Audience Research Council until December 2016</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of Essel Ship Breaking Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of Essel Telecom Holdings Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of Rochan (India) Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of Zee Sports Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of Agrani Wireless Services Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of Agrani Convergence Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of Agrani Satellite Services Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of ASC Mobile Communication Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves as Director of Diligent Media Corporation Ltd.</td></tr> <tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;"> <strong>Affiliations</strong></div> </td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">'Business Today Best CEO award (media and entertainment category) 2016.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Listed amongst the top 100 CEOs of India, in a study published by Business Today (2015)</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Received the prestigious Economic Times '40 Under Forty' India's Hottest Business Leaders Award (2014)</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">'Young CEO Award' by CEO India magazine (2015)</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">The IAA Leadership Award 2014 (under the category of 'Media Person of the Year Award')</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Recognized as the 'Entrepreneur of the Year' during the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards (2014)</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Felicitated as the 'IMPACT Person of the Year' for his contribution to the media and entertainment industry(2014)</td></tr> <tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;"> Quotes</div> </td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">'<strong>“</strong>In the next two or three years, growth from the international market should be consistent at 10 to 12 per cent.”–Around May 2014.</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“We want to transform from just a broadcast company into an all-round media company. Broadcast is and will remain the biggest piece in the business.”</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“In India if you were to watch half an hour episode on your 3G or 4G connection, if your 4G works for that matter, you will end up paying probably couple of thousand rupees just for the bandwidth cost, forget what you paid me for the episode.”</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“It is clear that we are in the business to make money; we are not here for charity or for building power or influence. My father also taught us that this company is not just ours—we only own part of it. We have minority shareholders whose interests are equally important.”</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“I don’t think of the vision—I let it come from him. Because if he has proved himself for the last 40 years, who am I to question that vision?” – Referring to his father Subhash Chandra’s vision of making Zee TV division one of the top 10 media companies in the world by 2020.</td></tr> </tbody></table> </div>

Punit Goenka MD & CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.

“Someday I want people to point to Subhashji and say, ‘That’s Punit Goenka’s father’. That’s my only...

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