India Inc is currently faced with a dilemma of slowing demand, high cost of money, overall policy paralysis, and the resultant uncertainty of the future, said Mr N. Srinivasan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, India Cements Ltd.

Delivering his speech as the chief guest of the Managerial Excellence awards ceremony of Madras Management Association here on Friday, he said in the cement industry, the demand has slowed down to early single digits and in some States it’s in the negative side of the scale, from over 14 per cent growth a couple of years ago. The political environment in the country is not good and application of mind seems to be lacking across the board, he said.

In situations like this, one needs to be conscious of the change the global economy is undergoing and work hard, for “managerial excellence is ultimately all about hard work and constant application of mind,” he said. Citing an example to prove this point, he spoke of how India Cements' marketing team roped in 256 dealers in Rajasthan, on the first day of their signing on dealers, by offering them a chance to watch the cricket match played between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings in Rajasthan and giving photo opportunities with the CSK team members during the recent IPL tournament. “It was very difficult to get dealers on board as they were already in a tie-up with some other cement brand, which they could lose by teaming up with us,” he said.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, said every individual should try and align their thoughts towards the national interest to achieve success. The problem the country is facing at present is random alignment of interests. “We have to realign ourselves in our thoughts, first of all,” he said.

The 11th MMA Awards for Managerial Excellence were given to Carborundum Universal Ltd, Marg Ltd, Prathista Industries Ltd and Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship.

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