Bimal Dayal, Chief Executive Officer of Indus Towers Indus Towers is the world’s largest tower company, which is trying to keep pace with the demand to set up more green towers. Speaking to M Rajendran of Express, its CEO outlines the way forward.
Excerpts:
What makes a leader, according to you?
To be able to develop a company based on strong culture and values. Culture is the set of core values that a leader is able to provide and help achieve. The most important culture is to celebrate by developing the next breed of value heroes /leaders. At Indus Towers, we follow this in letter and spirit and my association with the company has helped me understand the true culture and values that a leader needs to follow.
Achieving excellence is a challenge with a tough business environment. How did you manage?
We have been focusing on a greater push to achieve excellence, that we strongly believe in. It will be pursued continuously and with the same passion. Indus will set a global benchmark in the industry we operate in.
How do you relax?
My day starts very early in the morning. I have a set of friends who go out for a run every day. I have been doing it for seven years in a row and have been doing it meditatively. On Saturdays, I go out for a game of golf.
Does it help manage the company better?
Certainly. I have been a CEO of Indus Towers for about a month and it certainly does help…further, since I was already the chief operating officer earlier, it was an easy transition and understanding the challenges and improving the company has been a seamless process.
How do you help telcos?
We have been an innovative company—three large competitors coming together to create a new business. We had a low tenancy ratio of about 1 and we are now at 2.2. We provided skill building techniques for ground level personnel in transition, from going to each tower to check various parameters to managing it on their tablet now.
Is pollution caused by heavy diesel usage a concern?
It is and we have done innovation as part of our green initiative. Last year, we committed to make 50,000 sites ‘green’ (not to use diesel). We are happy to announce that we have achieved 50,641 green sites. This is equal to planting 10 million trees. Almost 60,000 sites have become non-air-conditioned, which means our equipment can function without air-conditioning combined with less use of diesel. Going forward, we will reduce consumption by 50 per cent.
What is your message for youth?
Take a piece of paper and write down all of what they enjoy. We have reached a point when we can nurture their talent in the line of their passion. If there are compulsions, we cannot ignore them, but if not, then the sky is the limit.