It has not been a cake walk to manage a 30-year old company famous for its joint ventures with global leaders like Alcatel, Telstra, Xerox, and Olivetti among many others. Known by many names like BK Modi Group to Modi Corporation to Mcorp Global, the company has now been transformed to Spice Corporation, and has seen many ups and downs in the last two decades. But it is still going strong. Dilip Modi, the proud son of BK Modi, who is regarded as one of India's global citizens and has brought many firsts to India, is now the group president of the its global operations. An MBA from Imperial College, London, he has been very active in telecom forums in India as well as internationally. A former chairman of COAI, Modi has also been very influential in GSM World Congress. In a close encounter with VOICE&DATA, he shares his passion and vision for his country and his company. Excerpts

How does your day start?
Starting up your day every morning is like starting a new life. Being an early riser, I am able to take some time out for myself. I start my day by doing 45 minutes of yoga. And I am fortunate to have Lodhi Gardens near my place, so I go for a stroll in the green. I never forget to spend time with my three-year-old daughter, as I feel she might not recognize me when she grows up because I hardly find time to spend with family. The time I spend with my daughter is perhaps the best time in the whole day. Sometimes she starts to wonder about the breathing exercises that I do, and it gives me a great pleasure to see her smiling.

Please define life in your term.

It is not only a journey but what you make out of it. I think it's very fortunate to lead a life where you can decide what you want to do and what direction you want to take in life. It's not that someone else should define the path for you; it is you who has to define it. It's an exciting journey. It is a journey where the path is always full of excitement. It is all about what you make out of it... It's about creating moments that you relish... It's about giving and getting. I've been fortunate enough to be able to lead a life where I can decide what I want to do and what direction I want to take.

How difficult is it to be the MD of Spice Corp?
It is a lot of fun. It is a very exciting opportunity for me personally. At a very young age, being able to work for a very young industry and work at the helm of new innovations, drive through new ideas, work on new ideas and business models, have enough scope for many experiments. Also, being an MD of a large organization is a great assignment for me. And my team makes things much easier. I'm also very fortunate to be surrounded by many bright people. They make my work much easier. So my job is to make sure I'm always surrounded by talented people every time.

How do you define leadership?
It's all about actions. It is about truly believing in what you say and being able to demonstrate that through your actions. It is a sense of believing in your conscience and how and where you want to take your organization. Leadership is not to create followers; rather it's about creating more leaders. Your leadership qualities should motivate and guide people in the right direction, at times of crisis; that is when they need support the most.

How do you define yourself as an individual, entrepreneur, and a family man?
Being born into a business family, entrepreneurship is something that is in your blood. It is something that you are brought up with. Personally, I'm a very family person. My family is my best friend. Effectively, I have never had to look out for friends outside my home.

Modi Corp has seen a lot of ups and downs in the last two decades and is still going strong. What's the magic?
The fact that we are in India has a big role to play. The economy is growing at 8%, with new opportunities coming up. There is a huge demand in the domestic market. So, we are in the right country, at the right time, having a huge market with a lot of opportunities. India is the right country, with right people and values.

What drives you in your business life?
Personally I am passionate about our name, ie, Indian companies. I strongly believe a lot of companies can come out of India and offer products and solutions to the world. That's what drives me. The kick that I get from thinking India going to the world and saying, “Hey, this is my product, and see what's happening in India, and why don't you come to us”. Today, everyone wants to come to India but we are already in India. Then why can't we offer products or services on a global scale? Thinking of India standing tall in global arena drives me crazy.

Earlier, Modi Corp was regarded as a joint venture empire, but not anymore. Why did your JVs fail?
I would not say our JVs failed. It was the fallout of the vibrancy prevailing in the country at that time. As per the regulation at that time, the partner has a choice to his set of 100% subsidiary, and we also have the liberty to continue with our partner. Or, we can have our own brand. We thought of our own sense of identity, our own brand, for example, a business where we can set up a new kind of environment, where there would be no boundaries, ie, anyone from anywhere can come and join us. I think it was the realization of our end also. We wanted to work on our intellectual property which we can own and export. We are also going through a phase where we entered into the telecom business, which was a new vertical. So I would not say it's a failure, rather it was restructured.

Would you give credit to McKinsey & Co for its suggestion to MCorp way back in 1994 to focus on one single vertical than going in different ways?
They are a great firm. I had the good fortune to work with them. It has definitely made some difference but we have come a long way. At that time, we had more than ten JVs. Yes, their suggestions allowed us to restructure our companies.

Where do you see Spice Corp five years down the line?
I think we see Spice Corp as a next-gen mobile company. We would focus on innovation in the mobile services domain. We clearly see ourselves a pan-Indian player; in 2010, we are talking of 500 mn customers, out of that, we are expecting customers of 10%. We had a great partnership with Telecom Malaysia. We are a complete mobile service company, having services as well as products like handsets. And we have our own VAS company, called Spice Mobile VAS, and then there is Hotspots, our mobile retail. We have earmarked an investment of around $3.5 bn. We see a great future for our company.

Gyana Ranjan Swain
gyanas@cybermedia.co.in