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When you talk to Mr Pramod Bhasin, the outgoing CEO of Genpact, it is really difficult to make out whether you are talking to a bibliophile or a business leader.
He is full of enthusiasm, talking on War and Peace, Grapes of Wrath and Three Musketeers or Ms Emma, his long-time friend in London who amassed stacks and stacks of books at her home.
Minutes later, he could be as passionate when it comes to business. “One should know when to quit. And when one quits, one should have the courage to walk away – like the former CEO of GE Mr Jack Welch did.
“See, what I've downloaded from Project Gutenberg portal,” he says with zeal a teenage literature student, switching on his iPad.
The 59-year-old CEO has already started piling up e-books for the life after June 17, when he steps down as CEO to make way for the ‘Tiger' Tygarajan.
A 30-year-old in GE-Genpact family, Mr Pramod would spend only 25 per cent of his time for the company as non-executive Vice-President without a role in the Board. He, however, would help in “organisation development, global expansion and acquisition integration.”
A studious literature student he is, Mr Pramod strongly feels that a business leader should be a sincere student of the industry.
“What you know loses relevance soon. You need to read and follow every day. Being senior should not become a sure-shot method to become a boss,” he says.
Mr Pramod, one of the early industry leaders who groomed India as a BPO hub, convinced GE 18 years ago to start BPO business in India.
“We started from the scratch to become a company with 45,000 employees in 15 countries,” he says.
He, however, is modest in his achievements.
He attributes Genpact's success to “accidents of history”. It cashed in on Japanese presence in a China city and Spanish strengths of Mexico and so on.
On the prospects for the Indian BPO industry, he cautions that China's concerted effort to build an ecosystem could have a long-term impact on India. “We should have a range of services in order to offer a holistic, compelling offering. On a scale of 1-to-10, we are just at 1,” he observes.
What next
Mr Pramod says he would plan for his future after his quitting.
“It could be a role in Government. It could be in education. Or, it could be utilising the expertise in starting and building new businesses,” he says.
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