Kapil Mehan has travelled a long way from his hometown of Qadian in Punjab to find his place in the Tata sun. A graduate in veterinary science, he won his management spurs at IIM, Ahmedabad, in 1979 before starting his career at Rallis in 1981. Currently vice-president, sales and marketing, at Tata Chemicals, Mr Mehan has been part of the Tata family ever since.

Mr Mehan is responsible for the sales and marketing of all Tata Chemicals products, Tata Salt, soda ash and fertilisers among them. In his 20 years with the Tata Group, he has held various positions in locations across the country, while gaining extensive knowledge about the agricultural sector and Indian markets.

Following the closure of the Rallis fertiliser factory in 1984, it was Mr Mehan who rebuilt the company’s business in north India, increasing revenues from Rs 9 crore to Rs 25 crore.

A member of several industry associations, Mr Mehan speaks in this interview with Sujata Agarwal, about how his career has progressed and of his ambition to continue contributing to the growth of Tata Chemicals in particular and the Tata Group in general.

From veterinary science to management
I come from a middle-class family. While I was coming of age in the mid-1970s, you either became an engineer or a doctor. I was a few marks short of making it to medical college so I chose the next best option, which was veterinary science.

I was at the Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana and soon realised that veterinary science is not a small niche area but actually opens to the larger field of agricultural and animal husbandry. Then, when I was in my third year, management started becoming a significant career option and I decided to take a shot at it.

I appeared for the CAT test and was chosen by three universities. IIM, Ahmedabad, was one of them and, frankly, at the time I did not realise fully that it was such a premier institute. People were stunned that I, a vet, could get into an IIM, but CAT is focused more on analytical ability and maths and I have always been strong in these. My life took a different course after I joined the IIM.

My first job was with Rallis. I remember it clearly. The day was March 6, 1981, and I had appeared for interviews with ICI, Hindustan Lever and Rallis. Rallis made me an offer the same evening. Now, according to the placement rules of the institute, you cannot reject more than one offer and Rallis is not a company you reject. That’s how I accepted their offer. And I was with them for the next 15 years.

The years with Rallis
I started in the fertilisers and pesticides division in Lucknow. It’s an interesting story. There were two of us from IIM, Ahmedabad, who were joining the division, Satish Sethi being the other. Mr Khullar, the person in charge, could not decide who would go to Lucknow, so he tossed a coin. Sethi went to Bombay and I to Lucknow and that’s how my journey in Rallis started.

Rallis was a great learning experience. I handled different assignments and situations all over India. In each assignment there were challenges and issues to be resolved and this helped me gain experience and the confidence to handle the business.

Initially I was in charge of sales in eastern Uttar Pradesh, primarily a fertiliser area. It was my first exposure to transactions and business. I was only 23 years old and had older people, the field staff, reporting to me. It was quite a challenge to make them accept me. It was also a great learning experience.

I learned that you have to be willing to accept that your view may not be the only one. I developed the ability to listen to another person and get his perspective of a situation. There were two senior people, in their late forties, who were very competent, knew the market and the dealers. I picked up a lot of the tricks of the trade from them. I was also given a lot of freedom in my work by my boss.

I moved to Tamil Nadu as area sales manager in 1984 and was there for more than two years. This was a rewarding period in my career. Initially there was an issue of acceptance as I was the first non-south Indian area manager. The language was a problem, too, but within a month I picked up enough Tamil words to initiate a conversation, though I must say that the locals were amused by my efforts to speak their language.

I gained a lot of confidence during this period, especially since I had succeeded despite many drawbacks. My most fulfilling experience was the setting up of the Rallis Coimbatore office. I did it from scratch: from finding a place to getting the people in place. I feel happier about this achievement because my efforts and work were recognised.

I moved back to Lucknow as regional manager in June 1986. It was a difficult period. Rallis had sold its fertiliser factory in1984 and this resulted in low business levels in Uttar Pradesh. The staffers were also very demoralised. In fact, before I joined, the entire staff had put in their papers. The first thing I did was call a meeting and ask people to list all their problems, which I promised would be resolved within two weeks. And that actually happened.

Then we started scouting for business. Uttar Pradesh is a market for fertilisers and not for pesticides, but we went around to different companies, set up marketing arrangements and started building the business. It was at this time that Tata Chemicals received its letter of intent to set up the fertiliser plant at Babrala. My aim was to have Rallis do the marketing when production started. When I left Lucknow in 1989, the business had increased substantially.

The years between 1993 and 1995 were very eventful and exciting for me. I was given more responsibilities and was promoted every year. Many opportunities opened up around this time. The import of some fertilisers had been opened up in 1992 and this was an important break. I took the initiative and within two years Rallis was the highest fertiliser importer in the country.

The corporate office was so impressed that the entire import was centralised from Delhi. It was a huge responsibility: we were negotiating contracts worth millions of dollars with overseas clients and soon we were doing Rs 400 crore worth of business in pesticides and fertilisers.

In 1994 we got the Tata Chemicals franchise. We had been working with them since 1992, when we started the seed-marketing programme and became involved from packaging to the launch. It was due to our success here that we were given the mandate to market fertilisers too.

In my case, the first two had been adequately taken care of at Rallis. I had joined as a management trainee and had been promoted about once every two years. As far as the monetary aspect is concerned, I think that has been an issue with most Tata companies and one, which is now getting corrected. But money is a question of one’s needs and wants. More than money, you need respect, an acknowledgement of your work and a comfortable working environment.

I would say that I moved because there was a synergy of business and it was an opportunity to advance by career. Also, I knew the people I would be working with.

Working with the Tata Group
I have completed 20 years in the group. I would say that I have done reasonably well in my career here. What I cannot say is that I would have done better elsewhere.

When I joined Rallis in 1981, I was aware that it was a part of the Tata Group but that was not the main reason why I joined the company. At that time Rallis was not really an active part of the group, the Tatas being equal partners with Fison’s of Britain. It was only in the late 1980s that the Tatas bought out Fison’s and Rallis really became a group company.

Of course, it has always been a source of pride to work with the Tatas. You feel this even more when you travel abroad. India is seen as a third world country but, coming from the Tata Group, you are looked at with respect. It gives you a different perspective. This also happens when you visit senior government functionaries; you are received as a Tata person. No other organisation or group gives you that kind of access or acknowledgement.

Working with the Tata Group provides so many opportunities. I don’t think I could have asked for more. You get to move to different companies and, with the new human resources initiatives, the moves will be more systematic. It is good for both the group and for individuals.

The individual gets exposed to different environments and business situations and that’s what makes men out of boys. It gives you the ability to make judgements and it makes you confident about tackling varied issues. It also delivers the opportunity for all-round growth. The new HR initiatives are going to be even more exciting to work with the group.

Another aspect of management is dealing with people and treating them properly. I have been lucky here; I have had wonderful colleagues right from my days at Rallis. I have never had a problem with my seniors or juniors. I have always received tremendous encouragement from my seniors and a lot of support from my colleagues.

On family
I’m happily married and I have two daughters. My elder daughter is in the tenth standard and the younger one is in the eighth. Ours is an arranged marriage. My wife is from Punjab and our native towns are only 18 km apart. She is in charge of the home and I generally don’t interfere in household matters.

In today’s environment running a house is also a fulltime job. Personally, I feel that role definition is important in marriage, and that you should respect each other’s space. Then life can be wonderful.

I believe it is important to spend time with one’s family. Once a year we all go on a month-long vacation, either to Punjab or a hill station. We also take short breaks every three to four months. These are good because I get to spend quality time with my family (I don’t even take my mobile with me). Unfortunately, though, I haven’t been able to do that often after coming to Bombay.

I enjoy morning walks. I started playing golf in Delhi but in Bombay it’s difficult to find a place to play. It’s a nice game and I would like to get restarted on it.

On achievements
I think a key achievement was setting up the infrastructure to handle the volumes in Tata Chemicals. The scaling up of operations from one to ten — and that in a period of just 18 months — was, I think, the most challenging part, and we were quite successful in it.

An achievement I remember is from my time with Rallis. This was early 1990s and I gave a business plan presentation where I made some projections. The plan spoke of Rallis going from 1,00,000 tonnes to 10,00,000 tonnes in fertilisers, from a business of Rs 90 crore to Rs 400 crore. There was a foreigner present and he commented that he had never seen such projections by an operations manager, adding for effect that either he would not see me at the next conference or else would see me promoted. Came the next year and he had to congratulate me because I had done the job! Of course, there are others involved but I would rate that as a highlight in my career.

The challenges at Tata Chemicals
I think the greatest challenge we are facing today is growth and that is what all of us — [managing director) Mr Prasad Menon, myself and other senior people — are our working on. We are working on many initiatives. Some of them are close to being finalised and soon we will be on top. Also, in the last year, with all the management changes, we have become a lot more focused and current.

On the future
I have never thought about where I will be in the next five years or so; I believe it doesn't work that way. In life there are opportunities and there is you. Whenever an opportunity comes along, you have to see whether you are there or not. You should feel confident that you have performed well and justified the confidence of your superiors in you. Then you can look forward to your career growing. I definitely don’t expect to be sitting in the same position for a long time. Where there is an opportunity, I will take it with both hands.

Any regrets about your career choice?
Not really. The only thing I would say is that being a veterinarian requires certain skills and you get to work with your hands and heart, whereas in management you work more with your mind. Sometimes I sit back and think I would have made a better veterinarian, but I haven’t done too badly in management.