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Mr Brains
 Hear it from the horse's mouth: The government is wrong in cutting fees for the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). J Raja, a Chennaivasi and 1980 alumnus of
IIM, Ahmedabad, says that when a student joins the institute he/she automatically gets a loan from the bank on the campus which they can pay back after
finding a job. “The fees at IIM - Ahmedabad is nominal and in proportion to the fees of engineering and medical colleges. I don’t think the price cut will in any way help the students,” he asserts. A keen academic who has always been a topper, Raja surely knows what he is talking about. Look at his track record:
Raja began his studies on a grand note when he got double-promotion in class-I and this proved a headache when he completed school (SSLC) because his father A. Jagannathan, a mathematics professor in
Guindy Engineering College (before it became Anna
University), had to get an exemption for underage to enable him write the board exam.
The boy proved his mettle again and stood first in his school in SSLC (class-XI). That would not have surprised the school and his family as he had received proficiency awards every year during his school life. Now, he won the national merit scholarship for scoring high marks in SSLC: a scholarship that is awarded by the Government of India for a student until he/she finishes his/her
P.Gs degree!
It is no doubt that like his father, Raja, who was born in Ayyampettai in Thanjavur district, was also interested in maths, for he joined the
Guindy Engineering College and specialised in mechanical engineering. According to the college rules, if one got more than 70 per cent in the third-year, one has the option to try for ‘Honours’ degree by taking up two more papers and get an aggregate of 75 per cent in all the subjects in the last three years of engineering, of course, without failing in even one subject.
If the student fails to achieve this (getting 75 per cent aggregate in all the subjects in the last three years, without failing in any subject), the college would give a certificate that he or she had attempted ‘Honours’ and failed, and issue a first class B.E.
degree.
That was a tricky option: a person with 61 per cent marks would easily get a first class but someone attempting Honours and getting 74 per cent would get a first class with the qualification of having failed in Honours. But Raja was one of the few who took the risk. He cleared the degree with 80 per cent marks and stood first in the college. He was rewarded with the N Mahalingam Endowment Award.
 Armed with this degree, Raja joined the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) that churns out management wizards. He completed the MBA course in 1980.
Then began a very successful corporate career. He joined the Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) and worked in the Management Services Department, which also did consulting for external clients in which Raja played an important role. He had to help the clients choose the right computers for their requirement, electronic data processing (EDP) strategy and staffing in the early ‘80s when many private and government companies were establishing IT facilities.
Raja, a person who has been involved in implementing various projects of SPIC, now heads the services division of Technip India, one of SPIC’s group companies - a joint venture with Technip Italy.
As general manager, he takes care of human resource development, administration, management information system (MIS) and
IT, project control and quality assurance. Raja says the Technip group has a turnover of 5 billion euros, and is a leading company in Europe and the fourth largest engineering construction and procurement (ECP) contractor in the world having branches in 32 countries. “I was one of the six persons (three persons from Technip Italy and three persons from SPIC) in the steering committee which formed Technip India.”
Technip India has employees and expatriates from various countries. The company has totally 350 personnel out of which 250 employees belong to Technip, the remaining 100 belonging to other agencies.
More than 95 per cent of the services of Technip India are for projects abroad.
About the Chinese market, Raja explained that there was no threat to Indians from there. “India and
China are two of the largest markets in the world and that is why the
MNCs are coming to these two countries. China has inherently more advantage in manufacturing, while India has inherent advantage in services. The Indian market is vast and is growing and hence there is no need to fear competition.”
He thinks the government should change its strategy - rather than providing direct employment, it should promote companies, build infrastructure to spur industrial activity through private enterprise which will provide indirect employment. The infrastructure development would generate direct employment too. This would reduce the burden on the government and help the country develop faster as the money could be invested to get multiplier growth.
Raja is one of those rare people who believes in giving back to society once he finds the means and time. He is an academician, helping many business schools in various ways. He also conducts mock interviews for students, enabling them to get placements. Raja guides students to do project work and get an industry environment experience.
During the India-Pak war in 1971 (Bangladesh Liberation War) he was actively involved in collecting money and clothes for the Bangladeshi refugees. He was the director of the school Interact Club, the student wing of
Rotary Club.
Raja’s family is full of academicians and professionals. Apart from Raja’s father who was a mathematics professor, his mother Vasantha is a Carnatic music singer who also plays the violin; his wife Usha is a good writer (she has a popular column in
Chennaionline called 'Nanganallur
Notes') and a singer; his sister Jeyanthi is a doctor; his brother is an engineer and also an IIM
Bangalore alumnus. Yatha Raja, thatha family (Like Raja, like family)?
N
Arun Kumar
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