For Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, it is adherence to values like passion, commitment, loyalty and integrity that are supreme rather than chasing fast growth targets. Birla was in the city to deliver the 27th Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture on Wednesday.

Addressing a jam-packed H T Parekh Convention Centre at Ahmedabad Management Association, Birla said that while good performance definitely attracted good rewards, a strong commitment to work with loyalty and passion would ensure a good night’s sleep because it was values like these that would win in the long run. He said rewards for performance could not be at the cost of basic values.

Speaking on ‘‘Values: the Driving Forces for Success’’, the theme of his lecture, the 39-year-old Birla Group chief pointed out that a businessman practising values in his business was no less valued than the Pope. He said there was also a conflict between values and competition but different countries had different values and therefore one set of values might not be applicable in another country.

‘‘The world of business even today is going through a crisis of trust, where the credibiltiy of business leaders and the very legitimacy of business organisations are being questioned. In such a environment, our actions alone can inspire confidence. What people and society are searching for is the soul of the corporation, its values’’, he noted. He said that in many cases a crisis forced organisations to think about values but times are changing and most corporations are aware of the softer issues of ethics.

Later during a question-answer session, he said his group was not in the race for setting SEZs and that this was not going to be its priority at present. Praising Chief Minister Narendra Modi, he said that Modi was doing a good job of a chief minister with the result that Gujarat had a very good investment climate. Birla Group itself had considerable exposure in Gujarat, he said.

Politics, he said, was not his cup of tea. He said he would continue working for the group for the next 25 years. He expressed confidence that by 2009, Aidtya Birla Group would join the Fortune 500 list. About making profits, he said there were companies that had created large amounts of wealth but were low on profits, which could not remain sustainable in the long run. About new generation businessmen, he said they didn’t seem keen to remembered in posterity, but believed in living in the present doing good work.

Source: Expressindia.com

The Bank of India happens to be the first Indian bank to establish a branch outside India. This was in London. So, it is just as well that an important part of the centenary celebrations be held in London.

The centenary celebrations of the Bank of India were held at Washington Mayfair Hotel in London at a glittering function held on Wednesday.

The function was inaugurated by M. Balachandran, chairman and managing director of the bank. It was attended by leading members of the Indian community in UK and a host of dignitaries ranging from regulators, business associates, bankers and selected customers.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Balachandran hailed the vision of the founders of the bank for making it the first Indian bank to open a branch in London.

The London branch was opened in July 1946. In the function at London, customers also spoke of their association with the bank in UK and the role played by it in their lives.

The Bank of India has a total business mix of Rs170,000 crores at present and has set for itself a target for achieving a business mix of Rs 2,00,000 crores during the year 2006-7. The public sector bank has 2630 branches in India and 24 branches/offices abroad.