Subhash Sethi:Vice-chairman of Subhash Projects & Marketing Ltd

Subhash Sethi believes in his idol Dhirubhai Ambani’s dictum: success comes through choice, not by chance. Sethi, vice-chairman of Subhash Projects & Marketing Ltd (SPML), has evidently chosen well. He has taken his Rs 400 crore company places and is poised to reach greater heights — at times literally as in high-elevation projects.

Joining the family business of pumping machinery and construction of pumping stations was not a matter of choice. As in all traditional business families, that was considered as given. So Sethi logged on soon after completing his education in 1981. The options came in the roads taken later, when SPML diversified into multi-disciplinary engineering products from conceptualisation to maintenance.

“After my brothers and I graduated from college, we decided to start this business and I moved to Calcutta and my brothers to Delhi and Bangalore,” says Sethi. “Today we have three distinct core areas: water and environment management, power which includes generation, transmission and distribution, and infrastructure development.”

Coming from a Rajasthani family, Sethi always knew what he wanted to do after he completed his education. “I did my graduation in commerce with specialisation in accounts as I was always good with numbers. But I was never in doubt about my future. I always wanted to become an entrepreneur,” says Sethi, who completed his schooling and graduation from Guwahati, where his family was settled at that time.

According to Sethi, the industry he is in demands setting new performance benchmarks. “Our business is driven by high quality deliverance and our anticipation of the future needs in the engineering sector,” he says. One of the key factors in achieving this is to focus on the human element, feels Sethi. “My endeavour is to make the employees feel that the company is one big family,” he says.

There has been the obvious positive fallout. For instance, when SPML was involved in an infrastructure project in Mizoram, the employees had to brave a difficult terrain, an unfriendly climate and long absences from their families. They coped.

“Our challenge was in keeping our employees constantly motivated. We made sure that they were given comfort and protection. They were given additional incentives,” says Sethi.

The top management stayed on the worksites for months to give a boost to the workers and ensure completion of the project. And the result: a three-stage pumping station at a height of 880 metres.

Sethi greatly values teamwork to solve any problem. “We encourage our employees to give us feedback and involve them in problem solving,” he says.

Adaptation and innovation have always been his buzzwords. “Our turning point was the entry into the power business in 2001. This now contributes almost 50 per cent of our total business. We have also forayed into non-conventional sources of energy like hydro power and wind power, which will be major growth drivers. We could do all this because we were thinking of the future needs, not merely reacting to a situation,” he says.

According to Sethi, non-conventional energy sources hold the key for India’s future. “In view of the fast-depleting traditional sources of energy and the increasing needs of the country’s burgeoning population, non-conventional sources of energy such as wind farms and hydel projects will play a critical role in India’s energy requirements in the coming years. India is a rich storehouse of such sources of energy and we hope that steps will be taken by the government to open up opportunities to harness these,” he says.

Although a believer in destiny, Sethi’s definition of it is different. “I believe in destiny. A person’s principles guide his actions. This, in turn, guides his destiny. I believe that whatever one does, one needs to do it in the best possible manner.”

Sethi says that his ultimate aim is to see his company grow to be counted as one of the major players in its field. “We want to build SPML as a world-class infrastructure company, earning the respect of not only its customers but also the beneficiaries of its work,” he says.

Although he is an avid reader, with a passion for travel, Sethi’s ultimate stress buster is watching comedy shows. The Great Indian Laughter Challenge is his favourite. “Humour rejuvenates and re-energises me to face new challenges every day,” he says. Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Based on a conversation with V. Kumara Swamy in Calcutta