The COVID-19 pandemic brought about dramatic changes in the work environment. Almost 25 – 40% percent of workers in the private business sector worked primarily from home in 2019, the pandemic was the start of a huge experiment in full-time remote work for most workers and firms.

Several prominent Indian organizations have adopted remote work policies, making them known for offering work-from-home options to their employees. These include giant companies like TCS Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini. Other notable companies include Amazon Google, Microsoft, and Myntra. One of the biggest names in the world, Amazon is a popular recruiter in India. With almost 800,000 employees, there are various roles to choose from the software developers, testers, virtual assistants, customer support, logistics, and sales.

For the Indian subcontinent, Amazon provides a separate Virtual Customer Service (VCS) making anyone with basic communication skills apply and work remotely from India. Other major high paying roles are available for virtual positions as well, depending on their vacancy.  In fact, Amazon runs a separate platform for remote work in India. If someone is  qualified, he or she could work remotely from India for Amazon. Following the pandemic, Amazon also stepped in to help people who lost their jobs, by hiring 500,000 temporary workers. This makes the future of remote work from home in India a promising model.

Remote work involves no geographical boundaries, allowing organizations to tap into a global talent pool. Employers can access a diverse range of skills without being limited by the limitations of a specific location, promoting innovation and diversity in the workforce.

Also, remote work means working from anywhere other than the office, which can be  home, cafe, a resort, or just a coworking space. Instead of coming to the office and interacting with team members face to face, remote workers use digital tools to handle tasks, complete projects, and communicate with their team.

The rise of remote work significantly impacts organizations, offering benefits like cost savings and access to a wider talent pool, but also presenting challenges in communication, team building, and maintaining organizational culture. Remote work does lead to increased productivity and engagement for some employees, while others may experience isolation and reduced morale, depression. 

Let’s look at some of the positive effects

The positive impacts are cost reduction, remote work can lead to significant savings for companies through reduced office space, utility costs, and energy, water, employee commuting expenses. It provides access to a vast talent pool. Organizations can tap into a global talent pool, hiring individuals regardless of location. It permits improved productivity in employees. Some employees report higher job satisfaction and improved work-life balance, leading to increased productivity because of flexibility and autonomy, allowing employees to manage their work and personal lives better. 

Some negative effects:

Remote communication can be challenging, potentially leading to misunderstandings and reduced nonverbal cues. Remote teams may struggle with fostering a sense of community and belonging, potentially leading to isolation and reduced confidence. Maintaining company work culture becomes difficult. Remote work can make it more difficult to maintain a shared company values and culture and sense of identity. One of the challenges can be security and data. Remote access raises concerns about cybersecurity and data security, requiring robust policies and procedures. Monitoring and control over employees are tough job. Some organizations may implement increased monitoring and control measures to ensure productivity in a remote setting. 

Some jobs are very suitable for remote working:

Many job roles are well-suited for remote work, particularly those involving digital tasks, customer service, and technology, marketing, and finance. Examples include software development, digital marketing, customer service, data analysis, and graphic design. In technology, software development, data analysis, IT management, and cybersecurity. In social media management, copywriting, marketing management, and sales representative. In finance, accounting, financial analysis etc. In customer service customer support, feedback, replacing damaged product etc. In HR  recruitment, employee engagement, training, compensation etc. In project management  leading and coordinating projects where team members work from various locations, using digital tools to facilitate communication and collaboration.

Conclusion:

The average remote job salary in India can vary significantly based on the specific role and experience level, but generally, it ranges from ₹375,833 to ₹2,105,500 per year. Entry-level positions might start around ₹375,833, while experienced professionals could earn up to ₹2,105,500 annually. With no daily commute, no excessive coffee breaks, and no long hours away from friends, family, and kids, remote work greatly improves employee experience and well-being.

Illich’s law is a crucial law for organizations which want to achieve maximum productivity. Employee productivity can be defined as the amount of output produced by an employee in a specific period of time. The fact is that productivity tends to decrease or even reach negative values if a worker puts in more hours than his capacity. Illich’s Law which is also called “Law of Diminishing Returns” suggests that optimal productivity is reached with an appropriate balance between working time and resting time as productivity decreases after a certain period of continuous work. In short, relevant breaks are essential for staying productive.

Ivan Illich (1926-2002) was a polymath (a person with wide knowledge of various areas) born in Austria, of French and Serbo-Croatian descent. After graduating from studies in science, philosophy, theology, and history, he started his adulthood in the USA: first as a Catholic priest, then as a pastor for Puerto Rican immigrants. His generosity for the Puerto Rican community led him to be appointed as Vice-Rector of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

In the initial days of industrialization the factory managers, rich landlords and princely families used to treat their workers heartlessly. They used give workers lot of work and demand that it should be completed in short breaks. In short, they exploited their workers. And, productivity as a concept was not known.  

These days due to pandemic almost 70% of the workers are working from home therefore mangers have to learn to lead remotely. For the first time, employee productivity has become an important topic of discussion. And that’s the reason I am writing this article.

During the strict lockdown, after a month of experimenting, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) used the crisis to check whether if it can work on a long-term operating model. India’s largest IT Company is well known as trendsetter. After fourth quarter earnings call, TCS announced it is working towards a model called 25/25 where only 25 per cent employees will work from office by 2025. N.G.Subramaniam – Chief Operating Officer announced “We don’t believe we need more than 25 per cent of our workforce at our facilities to be 100 per cent productive”. Each employee should spend only 25 per cent of his/her time in office, he added. The culture of work from home is in its nascent stage and managers and employees are still learning the nuances.

The truth is employee productivity is not about making people work longer hours.  Employee productivity starts with the leadership quality. It also begins with the team’s level of engagement at work. It has been proved through scientific research that taking scheduled breaks can actually help improve concentration. Some research has shown that taking short breaks during long tasks helps a person to maintain a constant level of performance; while working at a task without breaks leads to a steady decline in performance.

It is always better to have self-imposed deadlines. While we usually think of a stress as a bad thing, a manageable level of self-imposed stress can actually be helpful in terms of giving us focus and helping us meet our goals.  

According to Illich counter productivity arises when the pursuit of a technical process undermines its original goals. In simpler words counter productivity arises when a useful process or technology is turned into a negative one. Illich gave an example with respect to travel; he said that beyond a critical speed even vehicles can’t run. If you have to reach a destination, you must plan your travel with proper time management. Every machine has its limitations; Illich therefore stressed on learning to practice a more disciplined and limited use of science and technology and invent alternatives especially low-scale, technologies.

In fact measuring a person’s productivity by the number of hours he or she puts in at work is mistaken. We live in a world where the whole foundation of productivity is set wrong. We believe that more the number of hours spent at work increases productivity more. But this premise is absolutely wrong. If someone is spending more number of hours doing the same amount of work, then he or she is actually less productive than others.

Research shows that productivity reduces when a person does too many tasks; mental blocks increase when a person is asked to switch tasks. Instead, productivity increases dramatically when a person gives full attention to one task at a time.

Too much work burns out our creativity and imagination. Studies show taking regular breaks helps increase concentration and boosts mood. We should always take five minutes’ walk around office or visit the canteen to sip coffee or tea, have small snack, meet a colleague have small discussion, take few minutes off to do pranayam.

Break your job into smaller tasks; looking at a big list or handful of jobs can be overwhelming. Seeing a handful of big projects on our calendar can be stressful. Instead if it is broken into smaller tasks, one feels more in control and will be much more productive

Conclusion

Illich’s law has been scientifically proven that after 45 minutes of consecutive work, we can only lose productivity. Based on this principle, everyone needs to take regular breaks and know that beyond a certain threshold of work during the same day, there is no point in trying hard.

“Carlson’s Law” coined by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman describes why managers must balance between autocracy and democracy in an organization. He says “In a world where so many people now have access to education and cheap tools of innovation, it happens from the bottom”. Bottom-up innovation is where ideas originate from employees at the lower ranks; they recognize opportunities through their day-to-day operations over the years. In organizations people at bottom keep innovating small yet meaningful improvements in products in areas such as flavours, shifting to better or all-natural ingredients, packaging improvements, faster/slower functioning, just-in-time supply chain enhancements, bigger or smaller sizing, cost reductions, heavier/lighter weight. Those innovations can be easily visualized and organizations can make a fortune out of it.

When leaders behave tolerant to failures and give scope and space to employees to express their ideas organizations grow faster. Most importantly employees must never be interrupted when they are working.

Carlson’s law states when organizations minimize interruptions, employees work with zeal.  Employees must know the outlook of the management after which they do not like to be disturbed, unless it is urgent. Employees agree with people on a time for a meeting in order to manage time effectively and avoid unjustified disruptions. Carlson’s law is also called the “Law of homogeneous sequences,” which states that interrupted work will be less effective and will take more time than  if it would completed in a continuous manner.

It is shocking yet a factual statistics to know that today’s knowledge workers are notoriously distracted. The average employee wastes up to 41% of their time at work on low-value tasks such as attending whatsapp messages, Facebook chats, instagram pictures, showing all of these to others and commenting on them.

And when people do start doing real work, they are rarely able to concentrate. Workers typically attend to a task for about three minutes before switching to something else which is usually an email or data file. A recent study found that a typical employee only has 11 minutes between distractions. Other studies show that office workers are interrupted about seven times an hour, which adds up to 56 interruptions a day, 80% of which are considered insignificant in nature.

Why distractions are deadly for productivity?

Not only are distractions frequent, but they kill productivity. Even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40% of your productive time. This is due to a phenomenon called “attention residue”. Research shows that when you switch tasks it takes a long time to get back to the level of efficiency you were at before you were interrupted. It is important to stop thinking about one task in order to complete one task fully and transit their attention and perform well on another.

When someone is trying to do deep thinking work for writing a big report, completing performance reviews or sales projections, creating the new presentation, etc it is nearly impossible to maintain a persuasive train-of-thought when he is gets ting attacked with interruptions. After each interruption the person takes nearly 45 minutes to get back to his thought process.

DHL Express, the world’s leading international express provider, has been named as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in the U.S. by Great Place to Work® and Fortune.  The company is certified as a Great Place to Work for four consecutive years. The company has a multi-national multi-cultural environment. Typical meeting may have an American, Italian, German, Chinese and Indian all in the same team. DHL respects its employee’s space, ethnic culture and employees call it a company with heart which says it all. Basically employees need freedom to work and productivity increases when employees are given uninterrupted work atmosphere which is strictly followed by DHL Express.   

Carlson’s law emphasizes on focusing one task at a time for an extended period yields overall better results than constantly switching back and forth between tasks. Because of the inevitable delays required to get back to effective work after each interruption, the entire task’s duration will be longer. 

In today’s global economy, organizations seek leaders who bring out the best in their subordinates. Carlson’s Law is about the negative impact of involuntary breaks. Taking much-needed and deserved intentional breaks is one thing – getting involuntarily distracted is another. It is proven: interruption seriously wrecks productivity.

Resuming a task after an interruption is generally far more complex ones; they are called ‘resumption lags’ which are problematic. Studies have found that interruptions threaten work resources, creating time pressure, work overload, and employee stress.

Emails, SMS, online messaging, phone calls, discussions between colleagues, and outside distractions prevent us from concentrating and doing our work as effectively as possible. A phone call takes between 3 and 5 minutes to get back to work. Over a week, this makes up a significant loss of time. A study from the University of California Irvine suggests it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus.

Organizations must make changes in the working fashion in organizations; interrupting is a bad habit that needs correction, but depending on the reason, or the degree of relationship, it needs to be handled differently. Some people interrupt just for the heck of it. It is a kind of bully. Some people are very sensitive to being disrupted as they find it very difficult to go back to their work. In fact highly creative people find it impossible to go back to their on-going work.

Sune Carlson was a Swedish economist and a pioneer in business research. His observation of the “Law of Homogenous Sequence” or the famous term called “Carlon’s Law” made him famous. Sune Carlson’s productivity concept of “one task at a time” became more popularized with different names: “Batching” and “Deep Work”.

Batching is a task productivity concept and consists of doing all similar tasks in one batch. Checking and replying to your emails only two hours per day, one hour in the morning, one hour later on in the day would be an excellent example of batching tasks to improve productivity. “Batching” is probably the closest productivity idea from Carlson’s Law.

Deep Work is another productivity concept. “Deep work” is a task for mind productivity. It can be seen as a development of the “Batching” idea. “Batching” is about doing related tasks in a given timeslot to avoid loss of focus that may arise from significant changes in the tasks’ requirements. “Deep Work” goes further and consists of entirely focusing on the current task at hand, instead of thinking of other things at the same time.

Human behaviour is complex to understand, why somebody is behaving vaguely cannot be explained. Sigmund Freud the founder of psychoanalysis had said that personality is composed of three elements known as the id, the ego, and the superego. These elements work together to create multifaceted human behaviours. Each component is unique in nature and plays its distinctive role in contributing its input to personality. The three interact in ways that have a powerful influence on an individual. Each element of personality emerges at different points in life.

The Id

According to Freud, the id is the source of all intuitive/psychic energy, making it the primary component of personality. It’s the fundamental component of personality that is present from the birth of a human. This aspect of personality lies in the entirely unconscious mind.  The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that remain on the outer surface of our conscious awareness.

The conscious mind contains all of the thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment; whereas, the unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness.

The id is very instinctive in nature and instigates erratic/impulsive behaviours. It is the impulsive part of our mind which responds directly and immediately to basic urges, needs and desires. The personality of the newborn child and toddlers is driven by id.  It is unorganized, demanding, adamant, illogical, moral-less, instinctual, selfish and unconscious. Id is driven by the pleasure that strives for instant gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state of apprehension. For example, alcoholics and drug addicts crave for consumption of alcohol and drugs and they can go to any extent to have it; they can rob other’s money, hit somebody, cheat or do anything to buy and consume the stuff. Another example is an increase in hunger or thirst produces an immediate attempt to eat or drink.

The positive side of id in adults is that it acts as the driving force of personality. It strives to fulfil our goals and objectives. Also, id is the most basic urge that people have, many of which are tied directly to survival; it gives the energy which is necessary to achieve ambitions, survives from fatal diseases. As we mature in life, we learn to control id with ego and superego which develops with our education and experience of life. That’s why we say that education refines human minds.

The Ego

According to Freud, ego arises and develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. Ego eventually emerges to moderate between the urges of the id and the demands of reality. The ego functions in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind. The Preconscious is dormant parts of the brain that are readily available to the conscious mind, although not currently in use. An example of preconscious mind is having readily available data in mind for giving clarification of a situation. When we brainstorm in a business meeting, we get the data stored in mind just in on spur of the moment to clarify our point. Freud used this term to make clear that self-consciousness is a part of the unconscious, not all of it, which is to say that the subdued does not comprise the whole unconsciously.

The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality. It operates on facts and realism. The reality weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon or discard impulses. Maturated people handle their id impulses to be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification. The basic function of the ego is based on patience.

Freud compared the id to a horse and the ego to the horse’s rider. The horse provides power and motion, while the rider provides direction and guidance. Without its rider, the horse may simply wander wherever it wished and do whatever it pleased. The rider gives the horse directions and commands to get it to go where the rider wants it to go. The ego guides our behaviour in our conscious life. It helps us control our impulses. When one feels like screaming at somebody in the office for talking a lie, ego rationalises the mind whether it’s worth it or not. When someone is depressed, his ego guides him to hide his depression to the outer world rationalising whether it’s worth showing others or not. The ego controls our anger, our feelings, and emotions through a secondary process of thinking in which the ego tries to find an object in the real world that matches the mental image created by the id’s primary process. Talking lies, cheating others to grab something, being very self-centred is ruled by id because it does not have morals.

The Superego

The last component of personality is the superego. According to Freud, the superego begins to emerge at around age five. The superego holds the internalized moral standards and ethics that we acquire from our parents, teachers and society. Superego gives us a sense of right and wrong. The superego provides guidelines for making judgments. Therefore it is important to train your children from age 0 to 5 with a proper sense of moral values.

The superego has two parts: the conscious and ego ideal. The conscience superego includes information about behaviours that are viewed as bad by parents and society which are often forbidden and lead to bad consequences, punishments, or feelings of guilt and remorse. The ego ideal includes the rules and standards for behaviours that the ego aspires to achieve; for example, acquiring higher educational degrees, acquire special skills in life, mastering an art etc. 

The superego tries to refine and perfectly civilize our behaviour. It works to restrain all undesirable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather than upon realistic principles. The superego is present in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The superego is the ethical component of the personality and provides the moral standards on which the ego operates. The superego criticizes, prohibits and forms inhibitions in our conscious personality.  The superego does both punishing and rewarding functions of the mind. Our childhood experience forms our superego; therefore it tends to be harsh and unrealistic in its demands. It is most often in search of proper behaviour and the id is in its search for pleasure. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the id, the ego, and the superego are not three separate entities and cannot be explained with clearly defined boundaries. These three elements of our behaviour are dynamic and always act together to influence our overall personality and behaviour. Freud used the term ego strength to refer to the ego’s ability to function despite the other two compelling forces id and superego. A person who has good ego strength can effectively manage the pressures of life, while a person with too much or too little ego strength can be obstinate or disruptive.

If the ego is able to effectively moderate between the demands of reality, the id, and the superego, a healthy and well-adjusted personality emerges. Freud believed that an imbalance between these elements would lead to an unruly personality.

An individual with an overly dominant id can commit suicide, can become a criminal, and can stab somebody easily.  On the other hand, an overly dominant superego might lead to a personality that is extremely moralistic and disapproving. A person ruled by the superego might not be able to accept anything or anyone that they perceive to be “bad” or “immoral.”

In Freud’s view, a balance in the dynamic interaction of the id, ego, and superego is necessary for a healthy personality.

To reinvent something means to change it so that it seems different and new; to redo, to make completely.

The year 2020 will be remembered in history for a long while. Until February, most companies were busy planning their long-term business strategies, busy setting ambitious growth targets, strategizing their value chains and adding new products to their portfolios. However, an unpredicted calamity Covid19 brought the entire world to standstill. The sudden event has forced governments and organizations to hit a pause and reset button. While uncertainty prevails over what the future would cause, what is clear is that it would be starkly different from the world we have known. Until a vaccine is made available to counter the virus, the requirements of social distancing, wearing masks, connecting socially online, in short, the need for restricted movement will continue.

We have seen a tremendous shift in mind-set of people. Though physical distancing is forced on us and we are connected electronically the need to stay relevant is all the more propelling. And, this is major transformation. Organizations are preparing for the new normal by changing their core organizational hierarchies, structure and their operation. While work from home has become the new normal, organizations have invented functional strategies to make distant working and remote client servicing a reality. It’s amazing to note that many small, medium and large organizations have quickly reconfigured their product and service offerings and have transformed their business models. Remote working is further expanding the scope of remote access to everything and greater security against cybercrimes.

With the on-going upheaval many organizations have seen opportunities and are reinventing themselves to rise over Covid19. Electronic gadgets are ruling our lives like never before. We are forced to keep with a lot of technology shifts and companies have had to evolve along with them. The companies that have survived are the ones that know this important lesson of listening to the customer always. The print industry has been the most affected industries since the technology boom. Many newspapers and magazines have either closed up shop or have gone in fully digital. National Geographic, however, has embraced technology – its magazine is still in print and the brand has millions of loyal Instagram, Twitter and Facebook followers, both for its account and its photographers’ accounts. Specifically, National Geographic has over 65 million followers. National Geographic realized that to stay firmly planted in its print ways would have killed its business. So, it went to where its customers were, which is online.

Another great example is Netflix. It has primarily changed the way TV is consumed. Netflix is in true sense the catalyst that drove the shift toward over-the-top television, helping pave way for many other OTT platforms. People want to watch whatever, whenever and wherever.  Netflix experienced lot of hiccups. Its original business model was subscription based, where people could rent as many movies as they wanted, keep them as long as they wanted and trade them in for new ones after mailing them back. Netflix included streaming video, which even further encouraged its popularity. But, in 2011, when it split into two companies, Netflix and Qwickster, its spin-off continued delivering only DVDs by mail and increased its prices, people were put off. Netflix quickly realized its mistake, and reverted back to providing both digitally streaming videos and DVD-by-mail under one roof, and under one bill. The message is give the customers what they want. 

It’s a perpetual fact that all businesses even the most successful ones slack. They lose their hold in market when they start stagnating. Organizations are compelled to reinvent themselves periodically. What matters is their ability to pull off from decline stage of business and jump back at growth stage. Organizations therefore have to be very adaptable. The world is changing at a faster pace; innovation must be a regular function in an organization. The ability of both stimulates and harnesses human imagination.

Domino’s had to make drastic changes; they considered their core competence in fast delivery, pizza in 30 minutes or less. If they delayed the delivery, the pizza would be given free. Domino’s was less concerned about taste or quality; but as people started debating on social media, Domino’s realized gravity of the issue. People were condemning its pizza quality leading to lesser order and tremendous financial repercussions. Domino’s went into action. Taking to the wave, it made an enormous announcement: ‘we hear you, our pizzas are suck and we promise to improve them.’ They improved their pizza quality. Domino’s rolled out its new campaign and new recipe, sales skyrocketed. Companies need to absorb all tip-offs thrown by their customers time and again.  

Few years down the line, many organizations will restyle jobs enabling their employees to work alongside smart machines, robots, and new forms of technology. Already robots have entered households’ cleaning, mopping, cutting and chopping. Organizational leaders must start rethinking their plans. For the past century organisations consisted of jobs, the job profiles were designed to match specified outputs; work methods were devised for performing jobs. But, many present jobs are absurd in nature, they don’t sound normal in nature, they demand unrealistic workloads which leave many job hunters shaking heads in disbelief.

Most people sense that the way organizations are run today has been stretched to its limits and things are and will change shortly. In numerous surveys businesspeople make it clear that in their view, companies are places of anxiety and drudgery, not passion or purpose. Organizational cynicism affects government agencies, non-profits, schools, and hospitals just as much. Further, it applies not just to the powerless at the bottom of the hierarchy. Behind a facade of success, many top leaders are tired of the power games and infighting; despite their desperately overloaded schedules, they feel a vague sense of bareness. People yearn for better ways to work together; for more soulful workplaces where their talents are nurtured and their deepest aspirations are honoured.

So, I conclude that as technology continues to improve, companies will be forced to adapt, change or die. They need to remain customer centric. Big or small all organizations need to be ready to roll out products and services as per the demand of their customers. Change is inevitable, therefore reinventing from time to time is a necessity.

What is the connotation of Gestalt theory? Gestalt psychology is a school of thought that believes all objects and scenes can be observed in their simplest forms. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Law of Simplicity,’ the theory proposes that the entire insight of an object or scene is more important than its individual parts. To put it simply, Gestalt psychology attempts to explore and unpack; think of how your mind automatically perceives the face of a person you know well. This is so fascinating even though the face is no doubt made up of the same core features as any other such as nose, ears, eyes, lips, chin etc. But, what your mind does is – this is my dear friend, this is my wife, this is my son….making sense of the features as a whole.

Designers get stuck while designing a logo for enterprises and also during rebranding an existing one. Logo gives a brand its identity therefore it requires lot of creativity, imagination and astuteness in designing. It is much more than picking nice colours and fonts. It takes a whole lot of imagination, forethought and a lengthy research process to design a logo. A designer needs to get into the approach, mission and philosophy of the company for which he is creating the logo for. Logos are launched in people’s minds; therefore the colors, font, shape of logo need to be inimitable because and it should also suit the brand’s personality. People recognize brands by their logos, thus, they carry enduring value for consumers.

The word Gestalt is German for ‘shape’ or ‘form’ and it also means creativity. The Gestalt theory was developed in Germany as a reaction to the behaviourism. It is theory of mind and brain that proposes the operational principle of the brain is holistic with self-organizing tendencies. The Gestalt effect denotes the capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves.

Great designers understand the powerful role that psychology plays in visual perception. What happens when someone’s eye meet the design creation? How does the person’s mind react to the message the logo or design? Understanding how a design is perceived and interpreted is a crucial asset that visual communicators must possess. We cannot possibly influence human perception with our designs if we don’t understand the driving forces behind them.

Rob Jenoff the designer who created the world-famous Apple company logo, has explained how he came up with the idea: he bought a whole bag of apples, placed them in a bowl, and spent time drawing them for a week, trying to break the image down into something simple. Taking a bite out of an apple was part of the experiment, and completely by coincidence he realised that ’bite’ sounded exactly the same as the computer term ’byte’. A byte is considered as a unit of memory size of computer. Wow!! What a coincidence and creativity that is…I call it brilliance.

How is Gestalt related to visual perception and design? Soon after it was introduced in psychology, Gestalt was applied to the field of visual perception by theorists like Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka. They are called Gestalt psychologists. When we imagine earth, we get the image of a 3-dimensional model of the globe. We cannot see the Earth all of it at once as it is so large. So, globe helps us to see what the whole Earth looks like. A globe is better representation of earth in comparison to a flat map.

Blank and non-meaningful space has long been a base of good design. Leaving white space around elements of a design is the first thing that usually comes to mind. But then there are designs that use that white space to deduce an element that isn’t actually there, for example, the arrow hidden between the E and X in the FedEx logo immediately comes to mind as an example.

The iconic Coca-Cola logo has changed many times over the past 126 years in design; however, you may be surprised to know the brand’s world-famous font of script and wave have always looked exactly as they do now. In the world-famous logo of the Coca-Cola Company, in the space between the letters ’O’ and ’L’, one can clearly see the Danish flag. The company has nonetheless used this as part of its marketing campaigns in the Scandinavian country.

Just for the sake of the history of this brand, when it was introduced in 1885, it was marketed as a health tonic to cure a range of ills, including headaches, low sex drive and addiction. Coke started out with coca which is the extract of cocaine as a key ingredient, along with the kola nut. Hence it was named as Coca-Cola.

Gestalt is based on the law of simplicity. It indicates that our mind perceives everything in its simplest form.

I am sure many people like me must have wondered what the logo of Wikipedia means. Each piece bears a glyph (a character or a sign) symbolizing the multilingualism of Wikipedia. As with the Latin letter ‘W’, these glyphs are in most cases the first glyph or glyphs of the name “Wikipedia” rendered in that language. The empty space at the top represents the incomplete nature of the mission of Wikipedia; there are more articles and languages yet to be added. I find this logo most interesting. There are currently 301 language editions of Wikipedia. It is owned by Wikimedia Foundation.

Root Chakra or the Muladhar Chakra: This first Chakra is called Root or Muladhar because it supports the body. This chakra is located at the base of the spine. This energy centre tells us to accept our body, feel it, validate it and love it. This energy center is related with our “identity” “I am”. The first chakra is typically about survival. This chakra consists of masculine energy. It gives us security, vitality, stability, individuality and of course courage. This chakra is associated with our activity to eat. Protein is the food of this chakra. When we eat well-balanced food, our body grows strong and supports the other functions. When the first chakra is malfunctioning, it manifests into obesity.

Through this first chakra, we understand and heal our body. A well-functioning root (first) chakra opens us to our power and stability and allows us to grow. We are grounded, and this grounding brings us rest and solidity and stillness. The color associated with this chakra is RED.

Sacral Chakra or the Svadhisthana Chakra: Its element is water. This chakra is associated with our emotions of sexuality, desires, creation, and procreation. Socialization is also a function of the sacral chakra. The expression associated with this chakra is “I feel” The energy associated with this chakra is both emotional and sensual. The location of this chakra is in the area of the genitals and womb. The second chakra is one of feminine energies. Besides both sexuality and pleasure associated with this chakra, it centers the desire of nurturing, nourishment, warmth and touch.

The malfunctioning of this chakra leads to kidney and bladder disorders. Its color is ORANGE.

Solar Plexus or Manipura Chakra: The third chakra is the Manipura chakra, which means “lustrous gem.” It is located in the area of the navel near to the solar plexus. Its function is lending willpower. The expression associated with this chakra is “I do.” Its element is fire. 

It is connected to the pancreas of body. It affects are the pancreas, adrenals, digestive system and muscles. When it malfunctions, it results into problems related to the ulcers, diabetes, and hypoglycemia.

The solar plexus chakra gives us the sense of “belonging.” It grounds us firmly in life. Its color is YELLOW.

The Anahata or the Heart Chakra:  It is located near the heart. Its function is love. Its element is air. The inner layer of this chakra is compassion and love. The expression associated with this chakra is “I love.” The gland associated with the heart chakra is the thymus. It influences the body parts – the lungs, heart, arms and hands. When this chakra malfunctions it results into physical problems such as asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease and lung disease etc.

We love because of the energy of this fourth chakra. The heart chakra allows us of joyous acceptance in life. Its proper functioning gives us deep peace and allows us to be in harmony with our self. Its color is GREEN.

Visuddha or Throat Chakara: Visuddhameans “purification.” It is located at the area of the throat. Its function is related to communication and creativity. The glands related to this chakra are thyroid and parathyroid. The other body parts related to the fifth chakra are the neck, shoulders, arms and hands. The expression related to this chakra is “I speak”. The sense associated with it is hearing. When this chakra malfunctions, we encounter physical problems such as sore throat, stiff neck, colds, thyroid problems and hearing problems. Its color is BLUE.

Ajna or Third eye chakra: In sanskrit Ajana means to know. It also means “to perceive” or “to command.” It is located in the brain. The element associated with Ajna is light. Its function is seeing and intuition. The expression related with this chakra is “I see” The body parts affected by the sixth chakra are the pineal gland and the eyes. Malfunction of the sixth chakra can manifest in blindness, headaches, nightmares, eyestrain and blurred vision. This chakra is related to the mental state. One finds inner vision as part of this chakra, as well as actual seeing and outer vision. Therefore, mystical, magical and clairvoyant abilities are also associated with this sixth chakra. The color of sixth chakra is INDIGO.

The Crown or the Sahasrara chakra:  In Sanskrit Sahasrara means “thousand fold.” It is located just the central of the top of the head. The seventh chakra represents thought, and its materialization is information. Its function is to understand, and the psychological state that it creates is bliss. It is associated with the expression of “I understand” and its color is VIOLET.

The gland affected by this chakra is the pituitary. Other body parts affected by the seventh chakra include the cerebral cortex and the central nervous system. When this chakra malfunctions it can result in depression, isolation, confusion, boredom, apathy and the inability to learn or comprehend. The seventh chakra is associated with greater consciousness. After all life is not only about physical existence it is about our minds and soul as well. We are part of the collective consciousness. We are part of the Universe – the Infinite. The Third Eye Chakra and Crown chakra connects us to the immeasurable universal energy.

I connect the functions of seven chakras to Abraham Maslow’s Need Hierarchy. Maslow wanted to understand what stimulates desires in people. He believed that individuals possess a set of motivation systems distinct to rewards. Our diverse needs are connected to physiological, biological, and mind; therefore I have hypothetically connected them to the 7 chakras. Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve definite needs; some of them are very basic such as sleep, hunger, air, thirst, warmth and sex – Muladhar Chakra. Then comes the safety needs, wanting to be secured financially, socially – Sacral or Swadhisthan Chakra. After safety and security comes social affiliation need such as work group, family, affiliation, and relationships etc – Solar Plexus or Manipur chakra. The deep desire of man to love and to be loved which is also a part of Maslow’s social need centers in Heart or Anahat Chakra. Then comes self esteem which means achievement and mastery, independence etc which man achieves through communication – Throat or Visudha Chakra. Status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility comes out of intuitiveness – Third Eye or Ajana Chakra. And the last self actualization which means realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment and enlightenment in life; which I would call the zenith in life would relate to Crown or Shasrara Chakra.

When one need is fulfilled, the next need arises, when that is fulfilled the next; thus a person seeks to fulfill need after need which is unending. The needs chain goes on till man survives.

Maslow’s (1943, 1954) hierarchy of needs includes five motivational needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels. If the needs are not met with or if they are not satisfied they become stronger, for example if a person does not sleep for a night, he will become restless and agitated and will find ways to go off to sleep somewhere, or the longer a person goes without food the more hungry he will become.

Maslow said that one must satisfy lower level basic needs which are very basic for survival before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. In our bodies the lower chakras are associated with fundamental emotions and needs; hunger, thirst, sleep, procreation, security etc; for the energy here vibrates at a lower frequency and therefore they are intense in nature. The finer energies of the upper chakras correspond to our higher mental and spiritual aspirations and faculties. The throat is related to creativity, insight, synthesis; the third eye to knowingness, perception and intuition; the crown chakra to divinity, wisdom and spirit.

Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization.  Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs. Our constant struggle of earning a decent living and meeting our needs in that regard (food, clothing and shelter) causes us to swing between levels of the hierarchy at lower levels.

Most significant point to note is that Maslow noted only one in a hundred (I say one in thousands) person become fully self-actualized. Isn’t that abysmal?

Business Incubation is a unique and highly flexible combination of business development processes, infrastructure and people, designed to nurture and grow new and small businesses by supporting them through the early stages of business progress. Though in the initial phase of business new entrepreneurs do bootstrapping – which is building a company from the scratch with nothing but personal savings and, waiting for the cash coming in from the first sales. In the initial phases of businesses entrepreneurs depend a lot on other’s help in areas such as management of funds, marketing and sales, networking, hiring the right people, maintenance of day to day expenses and accounting etc.

Incubators provide numerous benefits to owners of startup businesses. Their office and manufacturing space is offered at a low cost, almost below market rate, and their staff supplies advice and much-needed expertise in developing business and marketing plans as well as helping to fund, helping the businesses to grow. In India, startups typically spend an average of two years in a business incubator, during which time they often share telephone, secretarial backup, office, and production equipment expenses with other startup companies. This helps them to reduce the overhead and operational costs. While there are some independent incubators, there are many run by venture capital firms, angel investors, government, some major corporations, universities, educational institutions such as IITs and IIMs, and some renowned B Schools. Some incubators have an application process, but others only work with companies and ideas that they come in contact with through trusted partners. A good example of an incubator is Idealab.

Idealab was founded by Bill T. Gross in March 1996. Prior to Idealab, Gross founded GNP Loudspeakers, an audio equipment manufacturer. It got acquired by Lotus Software and Knowledge Adventure an educational software company, later it was acquired by Cendant. Idealab has historically hired many alumni of California Institute of Technology from where Gross passed out. Gross now sits on the Institute’s board of trustees. Idealab has created, invested in, and spun off a diverse array of companies such as AirWave Wireless, vendor of wireless network management software acquired by Aruba Networks in 2008, Answer.com, Aptera Motors, electric car manufacturer, Blastoff.com, CarsDirect, Citysearch, acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp, Commission Junction etc.

Business incubation programs are often sponsored by private companies or government entities and public institutions, such as colleges and universities. Their goal is to help create and grow young businesses by providing them with necessary support and financial and technical services. There are approximately 150 business incubators nationwide in India, according to the National Business Incubation Association.

Not all business incubators are alike. An entrepreneur must however choose a suitable incubator to suit his/her business idea. For example, the Amity Innovation Incubator is a pioneering concept in the context of Indian Universities. Supported by DST (Ministry of Science & Technology) GOI, in a very short time of its existence it has earned desirable position for itself with start-ups which have regularly been on top of the innovation curve and have been recognized on platforms like ‘The Power of ideas’, Red Herring Global winner, Tata NEN and NASSCOM Innovation Awards to name a few. It is located in Noida and founded in 2008. Its focus area is Rural Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, Information and communication Technologies (to include Social media and ecommerce, Mobile computing and technologies, Analytics, Cloud computing and Big Data), Education and Education Technologies, Food and allied Technologies, Biotechnology and Life Sciences, Nanotechnology and Material Sciences. It funds up to INR 1 Cr. Some of its notable startup projects are ApnaCircle.com which provides opportunities for careers and social networking. Anduril Technologies which specializes in the business domains of Payments, Microfinance, Telecom and ERP.

It is advisable for new entrepreneurs to visit National Business Incubation Association Website to find the incubator that best suits their requirements. You can find an incubator in your state, also you can visit economic development agency, located in the phone book under the listing for your state government. You can also call the information offices of your local colleges and universities to see whether they have any business incubation programs.

AnglePrime is another business incubator located in Bangalore which is focused on startups in the middle that need seed capital (initial capital required for a business) it invest in not more than 3-4 companies a year. Angle Prime was founded in 2011 and its focus area is Mobile internet, ecommerce and tablet/mobile app. It funds up to 2 lakhs to 6 lakhs; some of its notable startups are: Ezetap which is a universal payment platform and Hacker Earth which provides enterprise software solutions that help organizations with their innovation management and technical recruitment needs.

Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) was setup by IIM Ahmedabad with support from the Government of India and Gujarat Government it operates through an autonomous not-for-profit entity. CIIE comprises of IIMA faculty, alumni and other individuals and partners with like-minded organizations to foster entrepreneurship through incubation, ecosystem development and academic initiatives. It is located in IIM Campus in Ahmadabad; it was founded as a research institute in 2002 and was turned into a full-fledged incubation centre in 2007. Its focus area is Information Communication Technology, and Social Entrepreneurship. It funds up to INR 20 lakhs. Its notable startups are Travelyaari, which is largest online bus booking portal headquartered at Bangalore; Innoz, is a young and exciting venture on mobile & wireless innovation which was founded in 2008; Thrillophilia is India’s biggest online platform for adventure tourism for discovering and booking travel experiences.

If an incubation program seems interesting to you, be prepared to submit a well prepared and detailed business plan. The plan will be reviewed by a screening committee to determine whether or not you meet the criteria for admission. Incubators carefully screen potential businesses because their space, equipment, and finances are limited, and they want to be sure about their choosing to nurture businesses with the best possible chance for success.

Through running a business initially in incubation entrepreneurs can:

Share basic operating costs: Tenants in a business incubator share a wide range of overhead costs, including utilities, office equipment, computer services, conference rooms, laboratories, and receptionist services. In addition, basic rent costs are usually below normal for the region in which the new business is operating, which allows entrepreneurs to realize additional savings. It is worth noting, however, that incubators do not allow tenants to remain in the program for long; most lease agreements at incubator facilities run for two to three years.

Get consulting and administrative assistance: Incubator managers and staff members can often provide insightful advice and/or information on a broad business spectrum of business issues, from marketing to business expansion financing. Small business owners should remember that the people that are responsible for overseeing the incubator program are usually quite knowledgeable about various aspects of the business world. They are resourceful.

Access to capital is easy: Business incubators provide entrepreneurs with access to the kind of early-stage capital that emerging companies desperately need. According to a recent survey of National Business Incubation Association members, 83 percent of incubator owners and directors provide access to seed capital.

Respect and credibility comes easily: Many entrepreneurs have stated that when their start-up businesses are accepted into business incubator programs, the rewards include an aura of legitimacy and credibility among both vendors and customers. The fact that a business has been accepted into an incubator offers due diligence value to potential investors because incubators allow only diligent business plans.

It develops comradeship with fellow entrepreneurs: The presence of fellow entrepreneurs’ works as motivating factor. You see another business going through different stages; you witness ups and downs in other businesses as well as yours.  Incubators by gathering entrepreneurs together under one roof, create a dynamic climate wherein business owners can provide encouragement to one another in their endeavors; share information on business-related subjects; and establish networks of communication that can serve them well for years to come.

All over world incubators run on common idea: The concept of incubation works in all communities, practically all industries, all demographics on a particular strength of an ability to aid companies that fulfill specific needs, technology transfer, stimulating mankind and creating jobs.

India’s largest incubator for startups is T-Hub also known as Telangana Hub. On 5 November 2015 the first phase of T-Hub was set in operation by E. S. L. Narasimhan, Governor of Telangana and Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, and Telangana IT & Panchayat Raj Minister K. T. Rama Rao. It is spread in a 70,000 square foot building called CatalysT, it is entirely dedicated to entrepreneurship. It is a partnership between the private sector and the Government of Telangana along with three of India’s leading academic institutes – IIIT-Hyderabad, ISB and National Academy of Legal Studies and Research.

Ethics and morality are foundations of human society. Individuals, government, and organizations make decisions in line with the interests and values of the society. Ethics and morality set up path for excellence and they limit wrong doing in society in a world which is in true sense interdependent. Societies, nations and people must necessarily follow ethical behaviour. Ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct made by government, organizations, school and college etc. whereas morals refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong.

For example, nuclear ethics is a cross-disciplinary field of academic and policy-relevant study in which the problems associated with nuclear warfare, nuclear deterrence, nuclear arms control, nuclear disarmament, or nuclear energy are examined through one or more ethical or moral theories or frameworks. It is moral duty of every nation to safeguard their nuclear arsenal and fissile material from the reach of terrorists for the security and safety of others as well as their own, because they are responsible for climate change, destruction of mankind and ecology of planet.

Another example for moral behaviours: If we want to save our planet from the worst effect of climate change, we need to get our greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2070: a target that requires immediate and drastic action, but, our indestructible addiction to fossil fuels makes this goal seem more and more unreachable. Can we make some stringent laws to drastically reduce the usage of fissile fuels? This is a moral issue. Moral reasoning is a thinking process with the objective of determining whether an idea is right or wrong. To know whether something is “right” or “wrong” one must first know what that something is intended to accomplish.

David Hume (April 1711 –  August 1776)  was a  Scottish Philosopher, historian, economist and author, who is best known even today for his highly significant system of philosophical empiricism, scepticism and naturalism. David Hume worked very hard to create a total naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature against philosophical rationalism. Hume believed that passion rather than reason governs human behaviour. He said that genuine knowledge must either be directly traceable to objects perceived in experience, or result from abstract reasoning.  There is a relationship between ideas which are derived from experience, he called the rest “nothing but literalism and illusion”, a dichotomy (a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different) which later was given the name of Hume’s Fork.

Hume’s fork shows us that we can have only two forms of lawful knowledge; relations of ideas and matters of facts. Matters of fact are source of substantive knowledge, facts that can tell us something new about the world. Knowledge in matters of fact is also a subsequent knowledge that is gained after experience and synthetic knowledge is something new about the world.

Our feelings or sentiments produce our actions, so much so that present actions resemble the past actions. We therefore can conclude that human actions depend on their beliefs which are in customary associations with human feelings. Clearly, rationality has no place in the account of morality. Being rational means acting wisely and efficiently to choose the appropriate means to advance one’s goals. Even though reasoning depends upon ideas and matters of fact, its most dramatic outcomes may come of out of feelings. All human actions flow naturally from human feelings, without any interference from human reason.

In major parts of the world, caste hierarchy is one of the oldest forms of social stratification. Deep down, the biggest features of casts is its ability to render a rigid and invasive hierarchical system of inclusion and exclusion. Whether it is India or America, people have not been able to get rid of the caste system. The caste system is based on deep feelings of people with an outcome of prejudice, stereotyping and pigeonhole mentality. Our emotional and intellectual mechanisms work together and sustain each other. Sometimes they cannot be separated at all. Rationality and empiricism (knowledge is based on experience) do not go hand in hand. Only ideas cannot be used to prove matters of fact; like it is pointless to prove existence of God.

We are experiencing progress in society because of some good institutions that have contributed to the quality of human life, scientific research, development in arts art, and education. Progressive businesses have given a lot to society because they have broken down myriad centuries-old barriers of racial, sexual, religious, and ethnic prejudice. And they have been the vehicle for countless numbers of individuals to develop their fullest potentials in achieving their dreams.  In short, some business organizations have been prime movers in making it possible for millions to pursue their lives in a wealthy, healthy, rational and exciting world. Good organization is built upon ethical business practices.

Corporate Governance which is offshoot of Business Ethics is based on the foundation that companies should engage in fair dealing with all of their stakeholders who are customers, employees, suppliers, and communities, as well as shareholders. Companies must engage in accordance with the expectations of the larger society in which they operate. An organization exists on its purpose in society. And an organization which exists on a shareholder-centric model also recognizes that it owes a lot to society, therefore, must minimize its negative externalities such as pollution and destruction of ecology.

And finally, for all individuals and organizations integrity is a choice, which depends to a large extent on culture, upbringing, peer influences, etc. it can’t be forced.  One who has strong and well-defined standards of integrity behaves with wholeness, integration, honesty, and does right by him and by others.

We see countless professionals giving up their integrity and morals for the sake of money and money is a big addiction. Wealthy people get imprisoned into their lifestyle and their need to impress the world.  It’s sad that people forget to create their legacy.

What is your legacy? It’s what you will be able to say about yourself when you’re old and look back at life. It’s about what you have stood for, given to the society, taught, imparted, and left behind. It’s not what you dreamed of being, but what you have been.  It’s not a dress rehearsal, but the reality of what you have left behind. Many professionals forget that they have this one chance to build a life that’s meaningful for them.  It’s sad that people compromise their legacy for a futile greed to grasp success, money, accolades and power.

Since 1948, the Indian economy has relied greatly on Public Sector Undertaking in terms of growth and capacious investments in basic and key industries of strategic importance. There were certain sectors where the private enterprises were shy to operate as they involved huge investment as well as risk. It was the public sector alone which could build the economic overheads such as power, infrastructure, fertilizers, transport, etc. During the five year plans so far, the public sector has-diversified its activities to cover a wide spectrum of sectors. In India a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) is a government-owned corporation. These companies are owned by the federal Government of India, or a state or territorial governments, or both. The company equity needs to be majorly owned by the government to be a PSU.

Industrial development of a country requires a strong foundation of reliable infrastructure.  The infrastructure is fundamentally a capital-intensive industry. The State has suc­cessfully implemented various schemes of multi-purpose river projects, hydroelectric projects, transport and communication, atomic power, steel technology, defense equipment, ship building, transport,   nuclear technology, so on and forth. The public sector has an important role in the field of agriculture as well. The public sector assists in the manufacture of fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and mechanical implements used in agriculture.

PSUs have balanced the regional development as well. Post independence the industrial development was quite lopsided. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu were highly industrially developed states whereas, states like Orissa, Assam, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh etc. were highly backward. Through the extension of PSUs the Government has removed the regional imba­lances.

The underlying reason for such an extensive presence of PSU in Indian economy lies in the economic policy adopted after independence. A greater thrust was given on economic development with social perspective. In order to attain this, the method of central planning was adopted. But, since the requisite targets set in the first Five Year plan (1951-56) were not accomplished, a strategic decision was taken to set PSUs in strategic sectors such as heavy industry, steel, oil & gas, banking & insurance. Some of the largest and most successful PSUs-BHEL, State Bank of India, ONGC, Indian Oil Corp, Steel Authority of India and Bharat Electronics among others owe their genesis to this period.

The biggest growth in the number of PSUs however occurred in late 1960s and early 1970s, when most of the large commercial banks were nationalized followed by a similar move in coal mining, crude oil refining & marketing and textile among others. The list of PSUs increased further in 70s and 80s with the establishment of new national companies such as National Thermal Power, National Aluminum, Gas Authority of India (GAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam among others. There are 251 PSU companies in India as of 2012. Various PSUs have been awarded additional financial autonomy. These companies are “public sector companies that have comparative advantages”; the Government has given them greater autonomy to compete in the global market so as to support these enterprises to become global giants.

The level of financial autonomy is currently divided into three categories:

• Maharatna
• Navratna
• Miniratna

MAHARATNAS:

As on 21 July, 2014 there are 7 Maharatnas. A PSU is called a Mahartna when for consecutive three years it earns an average annual net profit of over Rs. 2500 crore (earlier it was 5,000 Cr), OR when a corporation holds an average annual Net worth of Rs. 10,000 crore for consecutive 3 years (earlier it was 15,000 Cr), OR when a corporation gives average annual turnover of Rs. 20,000 crore for consecutive 3 years (earlier it was 25,000 Cr). A company gets Maharatna status only if it has achieved the Navratna status. And, last but the least the PSU should be listed on bourses (global stock exchanges).

The Maharatna firms can now decide on investments of up to 15 per cent of their net worth in a project. The Maharatna status empowers them to make foreign investments of up to Rs. 5,000 crore without taking the government’s permission. For navratnas, the ceiling for investment without the promoters’ permission is Rs 1,000 crore. The main objective of the Maharatna scheme is to empower mega public sector companies to expand their operations and emerge as global giants. ‘

Bharat Heave Electrical Ltd (BHEL): 

BHEL was established in 1964. Heavy Electricals (India) Limited was merged with BHEL in 1974. In 1982, it entered into power equipments, to reduce its dependence on the power sector. It developed the capability to produce a variety of electrical, electronic and mechanical equipments for all sectors, including transmission, transportation, oil and gas and other allied industries. In 1991, it was converted into a public limited company. By the end of 1996, the company had handed over 100 Electric Locomotives to Indian Railways and installed 250 Hydro-sets across India.

BHEL is a power plant equipment manufacturing company and operates from New Delhi, India. The Company is engaged in the design, engineering, manufacture, construction, testing, commissioning and servicing of a range of products and services for the core sectors of the economy, including power, transmission, industry, transportation, renewable energy, oil and gas and defense. It operates in power and Industry segment. It is a manufacturer of Power generation equipment, supplying a wide range of products and systems for thermal, nuclear, gas and hydro-based utility and captive power plants. It is also a manufacturer of a range of industrial systems and products. Products and systems supplied by the Company include captive power plants, centrifugal compressors, drive turbines, industrial boilers and auxiliaries, waste heat recovery boilers, gas turbines, pumps, heat exchangers, electrical machines, valves, heavy castings and forgings, electrostatic precipitators and seamless steel tubes. The company has been earning profits continuously since 1971-72 and paying dividends uninterruptedly since 1976-77. BHEL was conferred Maharatna status in 2013.

Coal India Ltd:

Coal India Limited (CIL) was established in November 1975 with the government taking over some big private coal mines. With a modest production of 79 Million Tones (MTs) at the year of its inception CIL today is the single largest coal producer in the world. Operating through 81 mining areas CIL is an apex body with 7 wholly owned coal producing subsidiaries and one mine planning and Consultancy Company spread over 8 provincial states of India. CIL also fully owns a mining company in Mozambique in Africa christened as ‘Coal India Africana Limited’. CIL also manages 200 other establishments like workshops, hospitals etc. Further, it also owns 26 technical & management training institutes and 102 Vocational Training Institutes Centers known as Indian Institute of Coal Management (IICM) as a state-of-the-art Management Training and Centre of Excellence. CIL having fulfilled the financial and other fundamentals was granted the Maharatna recognition in April 2011.

Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL):

It is the largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company in India. It’s headquartered in New Delhi. GAIL runs business segments such as Natural Gas, Liquid Hydrocarbon, Liquefied petroleum gas, Transmission, Petrochemical, City Gas Distribution, Exploration and Production, GAILTEL (a telecommunication subsidy of GAIL) and Electricity Generation. GAIL has been conferred with the Maharatna status on 1 Feb 2013. The Company is engaged in transport of gas through pipeline; manufacture of basic chemicals, fertilizer and nitrogen compounds, plastics and synthetic rubber in primary forms; extraction of crude petroleum; extraction of natural gas and electric power generation, transmission and distribution. The company operates in 20 exploration blocks in Mahanadi, Mumbai, and Cambay, Assam-Arakan, Tripura Fold Belt, Gujarat Kutch, Krishna Godavari, Cauvery, and Cauvery Palar basins. Further, the company offers long term lease of dark fiber and duct, tower space and collocation facilities, and point-to-point leased line bandwidth services through its 13,000 km OFC network; and generates electric power through a joint venture. It owns approximately 10,900 km of natural gas pipelines.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOL):

This is India’s flagship oil company with business spanning the entire hydrocarbon value chain; refining, pipeline transportation of oil, petroleum products, exploration of crude oil and gas, wind mill and solar power generation. The Company’s product include Indane gas, Auto gas, natural gas, petrol/gasoline, diesel gas oil, ATF/Jet fuel (this is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance), Servo lubricants and greases, marine fuels and lubricants, kerosene, bulk/industrial fuels, bitumen, petrochemicals, special products and crude oil. The Company’s subsidiaries include Indian Oil (Mauritius) Ltd, IOC Middle East FZE, IOC Sweden AB, IOCL (USA) INC, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Lanka IOC PLC. The company is awarded Maharatna status in November 2010.

National Thermal Power Corporation LTD (NTPC):

This a company engaged in the business of generation of electricity and allied activities. NTPC’s core business is generation and sale of electricity to state-owned power distribution companies and State Electricity Boards in India. The company also undertakes consultancy and turnkey project contracts that involve engineering, project management, construction management and operation and management of power plants. The Company’s other businesses include providing consultancy, project management and supervision, oil and gas exploration, and coal mining. The Company’s projects under construction include Bongaigaon-I with a capacity of 750 Megawatts (MW), Barh-I with a capacity of 1,980 MW, Barh-II with a capacity of 1,320 MW, Gadarwara with a capacity of 1,600 MW, and Rihand with a capacity of 500 MW. The Company has an installed capacity of approximately 42,000 MW. The Company’s subsidiaries include NTPC Electric Supply Company Limited, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited, NTPC Hydro Limited, Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited and Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Limited. It has been conferred upon Mahartna status in 2010.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC):

ONGC is an Indian PSU multinational oil and Gas Company headquartered in Dehradun, India under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is India’s largest oil and gas exploration and production company. It produces around 69% of India’s crude oil (equivalent to around 30% of the country’s total demand) and around 62% of its natural gas. ONGC has produced more than 600 million metric tons of crude oil and supplied more than 200 billion cubic meters of gas since its inception. Today, ONGC is India’s highest profit making corporate. It has a share of 77 percent in India’s crude oil production and 81 per cent in India’s natural gas production. The Company is mainly engaged in the oil exploration and production activities. The Company operates in two segments: Offshore and Onshore. Its subsidiaries include ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd., ONGC Nile Ganga BV, ONGC Narmada Limited, ONGC Amazon Alaknanda Limited, ONGC Campos Ltda, ONGC Nile Ganga (Cyprus) Ltd. and ONGC Nile Ganga (San Cristobal) B.V. It is been conferred Maharatna status in 2010.

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL):

SAIL is India’s largest steel producing company. With a turnover of Rs. 49,350 crore, the company is among the seven Maharatnas of the country’s Central Public Sector Enterprises. SAIL has five integrated steel plants, three special plants, and one subsidiary in different parts of the country. SAIL operates and owns 5 integrated steel plants at Rourkela, Bhilai, Durgapur, Bokaro and Burnpur and three other special steel plants at Salem Durgapur and Bhdravati. It also owns a Ferro Alloy plant at Chadrapur. As part of its global ambition, the company is undergoing a massive expansion and modernization programe involving upgradation and building new facilities with emphasis on state of the art green technology. Besides, it has R&D centre for Iron & Steel (RDCIS), Centre for Engineering and Technology (CET), Management Training Institute (MTI) and SAIL Safety Organization (SSO) located at Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. SAIL traces its origin back in the Hindustan Steel Limited (HSL) which was set up on 19 January 1954. HSL was initially designed to manage only one plant that was coming up at Rourkela.

The Government of India had proposed an equal joint venture between state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and South Korea’s Posco for a steel plant in 2011. The Government of India may now abandon their planned joint venture with POSCO to set up an Rs 16,000-crore steel plant in Bokaro, Jharkhand, as the two firms failed to reach a common ground over the share of ownership. The agreement is yet to be signed and differences between the two companies are out in the open with both insisting on having a controlling right over the proposed joint venture, a demand that looks difficult as both rushing to control their partnership plan for setting up a 3-million tons per annum (mtpa) steel plant at Bokaro in Jharkhand. SAIL is also conferred upon Maharatna status in 2010.