‘Engineered in India’ by B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Founder Chairman, CYIENT is the new book on the stands.
It is essentially a story of how a BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY was built from scratch.
“Engineered in India” is a narrative of how CYIENT was created as a unique company, its journey, the troubles and the road to success.
Simultaneously, it is also a narrative of the story of how the author, the Founder Chairman of CYIENT, built the company in stages, to make it a leading Engineering MNC in India today.
The narrative begins in Andhra Pradesh, India, where the author grew up dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur. Briskly, the narrative takes you through the journey, seeing modest success at the beginning and remarkable achievements later. It is a success story in the Engineering domain, a story which every Engineer can read and take something.
I would like to tell you why CYIENT is unique and why it is important for the present and future startups, but before doing that let me tell you why I was keen to review this book.
Shri. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy is known for his ethical values in the Industry circles, a rarity in today’s world. This quality of Shri. BVR Mohan Reddy’s comes through in the book, which makes it an interesting read. It just shows up, plain and simple. And, being ethical is dear to my heart as my father too, was ethical in his professional life.
Second, I have worked at CYIENT, and have seen a couple of times as an insider, how this culture of ethics pops up to guide the company to a middle path.
Maybe, it is this culture of ethical values in word and deed, that has ensured no incidence of public disgrace.
Third, it is a unique company. To know how and why, continue reading!
The book begins with Shri. Mohan Reddy’s childhood, where he says he was fascinated by the train engine while waiting for the train to pass at a railway crossing.
As you read the 300 page neatly spaced and diligently edited book, you will realize it is remarkable that Shri. Mohan Reddy has retained a fascination for Engineering all through his career. It is reflected in choosing the name CYIENT.
And, this fascination and resulting curiosity is probably the most important trait of a successful Techno Entrepreneur.
Shri. Mohan Reddy also tells the reader in detail, the circumstances under which he opted for higher education in USA. This I found unique because he was clear that for him to succeed in his chosen path, an American education is a must.
I suspect, Shri. Mohan Reddy must have had his own version of SWOT analysis at an early age!
This self confidence is evident in his actions and responsibilities he has undertaken in all his employment assignments.
For instance in his first job at Shriram, he was in charge of operations, which means he was responsible for production targets. It requires a higher degree of self confidence to accept such an assignment at the beginning of one’s career.
In his later assignment at OMC, he was tasked with running the show, at a relatively young age.
After a successful stint, Shri. Mohan Reddy became a new age Techno Entrepreneur at the right age of 40 yrs, a timing dictated partly by providence, and mainly by his perseverance as he himself tell us, candidly.
His vast experience helped when he started CYIENT (earlier Infotech), a fact which he stresses on a couple of times in the book. Is it a mild reminder to today’s startups and the concerned people in ecosystem?
There are several such key points Shri. Mohan Reddy has raised all through the book.
In fact, anyone and everyone who believes that Indian startups are the future building blocks of the country should sit up and take note of the points discussed in the book.
One more example is how he and his team worked on diversifying CYIENT’s customer base within the Engineering space, is insightful and a learning for all.
Shri. BVR Mohan Reddy has detailed several incidents, which convey how corporate customers function, some of their unreasonable demands and how he won over such situations without upsetting anyone.
An undercurrent of the entire narrative is how the company ensured domain expertise is preserved, and becomes institutional memory.
Another incident which brings to the fore, the entrepreneurial spirit of father-son of Shri. Mohan Reddy and Shri. Krishna Bodanapu is the one involving ‘Invensys Rail’ of UK, later acquired by Siemens. It clearly demonstrates how spotting an opportunity is an in born trait. I resist my impulse to describe the incident in this review, and leave it for you to read.
I found several such points, interesting incidents, lessons to learn in the book. Some of them I have narrated here. They are better read in the author’s words.
There are two more points I would like to mention.
One, it takes a certain courage to write a book of this nature as it is easy to lose the reader, if the narrative is not adequately sequenced, paragraphed and made interesting. The author and his team have done it well.
A story of hard work and grit, is difficult to tell a story to tell. But, when narrated well it will be a book, for our bookshelf.
At the beginning I had mentioned there is an uniqueness to CYIENT. It is pureplay Engineering Services. They have not diversified into other areas, which they could easily have. Soaps? Bulbs? Micro Finance? Does it ring a bell?
I deeply respect companies which are dedicated to a domain.
One Praise that has come on the occasion of release of the book, which has to be cherished not only by people at CYIENT, but all of us Indians, is given here:
In my two decades of association with Mohan (Shri. B V R Mohan Reddy), I found him to be one of the most ethical people I have worked with. Mohan’s success has never been motivated by money or recognition. He has always focused on creating opportunity, building things that are sustainable….
Mr. Paul Adams, President, Pratt and Whitney.
Before I forget, it should be noted Shri. Mohan Reddy has acknowledged the role of his colleagues who have contributed to building CYIENT.
As I came to the end of the book, a thought came to my mind. Are entrepreneurs made or born? That’s a billion dollar question.
Want to know how the Billion Dollar Company was built? Find out for yourself in the book!!
Check out the success story of Engineering Giant!
“Engineered in India“
– by Shri. Mohan Reddy, Founder Chairman, CYIENT.
