Pradipta Mohapatra, pioneer of organised retail

Pradipta Mohapatra, or PKM, as he was respectfully called, passed away on March 13. It was a terribly sad moment when I heard the news and, as it spread amongst India’s retail fraternity, the sense of loss was universal.

A flood of memories of my association with him came to my mind, most of which, quite naturally, had a retail connect. My earliest memory includes listening to him describe the vision for RPG-Foodworld chain of supermarkets, which was started in the mid-1990s.

During a brainstorming session, he said these stores should redefine the Indian housewife’s shopping experience. With all the brashness of youth, I recall challenging this vision and questioning the same, saying that we were not offering the best prices for key groceries, such as rice. Although he was irked by my statement, he threw the ball back into my court, saying that, as the marketing head, it was my responsibility to make this vision happen.

The then head of RPG Foodworld, the late Raghu Pillai, was not amused by my outburst. But he nevertheless told me to get cracking on the job. Only much later did I realise that between these two doyens of Indian retail, I had been given a unique opportunity to help redefine the shopping experience for the Indian housewife at a rather young age — not everyone in their late 20s gets such an opportunity.

Giving elbow room

That has been my enduring memory of PKM — how he was confident enough to to give his team members elbow room to make things happen. He would hold the fort when it came to managing various stakeholders, so the team could work on the task at hand without disruption. He was also a great corporate leader — it was only natural that he started the Coaching Foundation of India, which is active today in the field of executive coaching and leader development in India.

Although he would entrust people with responsibility and give them autonomy, he would also always stay on top of things. As a manager, he would keep a close eye on things without making a person feel that someone was breathing down their neck.

Another instance involving Raghu Pillai and Mohapatra pertains to the pioneering music and entertainment format, Musicworld.

Feedback lessons

He had some reservations about an outdoor advertising campaign I has initiated and expressed the same to my boss, Raghu Pillai. Feedback would always be routed through my boss, although I would have regular interactions with Mohapatra. The fact that he never broached the topic of this campaign directly with me gave me the confidence to speak up on other issues.

Over the years, I realised the importance of regulating feedback, especially of the negative kind, by someone in a senior leadership position. It is important to send the message across without intimidating the other employees, a lesson I learnt from PKM.

There are so many such memories and learnings from my association with him that I could fill an entire book with it! In fact, some of these memories have been captured in The INDIAN reTALEs my book that Mohaptra released. I will always cherish the fact that both Raghu Pillai and Mohapatra gave their blessings to this book. Pillai even wrote the foreword and Mohapatra launched it at Landmark bookstore in Chennai.

Passion and involvement

PKM’s passion and involvement in retail extended far and wide. He was on the board of several retail organisations, and was a constant source of advice and guidance for people from this sector. His passion and involvement were evident last year when he galvanised the start-up team of RPG-Foodworld to come together in Chennai and celebrate 20 years of the start of corporate supermarkets in the country.

He declared to all of us that we should celebrate May 9 as Supermarket Foundation Day in memory of how this retail start-up had redefined the shopping experience, especially for household needs and groceries.

The corporate retail sector has evolved and grown significantly over the years, but it most definitely owes a debt of gratitude to pioneers like Pradipta Mohapatra, who had a large role in establishing its foundation in India. His presence will be sorely missed, and hopefully, the lessons learnt from him will continue to guide all those who have learned from him.

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