Arijit Basu: Defining New Benchmarks As An Industry Leader
Arijit Basu
Executive Director
Arijit Basu is a dynamic professional with a career spanning over 24 years in sales, marketing, product management, business development and general management. He is currently the Executive Director of Tide Water Oil Company, manufacturer of the Veedol brand of Automotive and Industrial lubricants and greases. He was formerly the Managing Director at Sika India Pvt Ltd, a Swiss multinational in the field of speciality construction chemicals. He is proficient in devising strategic business plans for organizational growth, having a diverse skill set which includes Strategic Planning, Lateral Thinking, Business Management and leadership skills aligned to create profitable growth.
The following excerpt is an exclusive conversation between Arijit Basu and CEO Insights that briefs his journey, leadership role, and his strategies that drive the business.
What are the major challenges you encounter in your role? What traits best define your leadership style and what is your success mantra?
We are living in a fast changing and uncertain world where challenges have become a way of life for all corporate leaders. Like many in a
role similar to mine, the major challenge is to ensure ‘profitable growth’ for the organisation under challenging business scenarios. To overcome this, the best way forward, in my view, is to focus on ‘growth drivers’ and ‘operational efficiency’. Customer preference has fast moved towards ‘convenience’ from only products and or services which would require organisations to be more ‘agile’ and ‘customer centric’. Finally,‘purpose over profit’ should be the key mantra. My leadership style is ‘Listen Learn Act Adopt Deliver’ and my success mantra is ‘sticking to the basics’.
How did Veedol stabilize its position in the oil and gas industry during the tough pandemic time?
Our industry has been through a two-year period of uncertainty with unprecedented business challenges on the back of the pandemic followed by geo-political tensions. This created severe bottlenecks in supply chain security, frequent input cost increases and a slowdown in demand. Furthermore, over and above business disruption, financial and health related insecurities and difficulties amongst our employees and partners emerged as issues of major concern. The entire Veedol community our employees, vendors, business partners and customers stood together shoulder to shoulder during the crisis and helped each other.
As the pandemic set in we took the strictest care, putting together operating protocols to ensure the safety and health of our people, especially those engaging in ‘wartime’ planning & execution to service customers against heavy odds. Veedol was the first in the industry to have opened all our plants and start manufacturing as soon as the small window of the opening of lockdowns took place. These proactive and agile efforts were highly appreciated and reciprocated by our valued customers.
We also learnt from these disruptive times, resetting our approach in line with the need of the hour to provide ‘convenience' to our customers and ‘support to our trade partners.
Looking back, I must say that as a team we managed the turmoil with much lesser friction and negative
No one knows the future, so I prefer to enjoy the ‘journey’ instead of thinking about the ‘destination’!
How did Veedol stabilize its position in the oil and gas industry during the tough pandemic time?
Our industry has been through a two-year period of uncertainty with unprecedented business challenges on the back of the pandemic followed by geo-political tensions. This created severe bottlenecks in supply chain security, frequent input cost increases and a slowdown in demand. Furthermore, over and above business disruption, financial and health related insecurities and difficulties amongst our employees and partners emerged as issues of major concern. The entire Veedol community our employees, vendors, business partners and customers stood together shoulder to shoulder during the crisis and helped each other.
As the pandemic set in we took the strictest care, putting together operating protocols to ensure the safety and health of our people, especially those engaging in ‘wartime’ planning & execution to service customers against heavy odds. Veedol was the first in the industry to have opened all our plants and start manufacturing as soon as the small window of the opening of lockdowns took place. These proactive and agile efforts were highly appreciated and reciprocated by our valued customers.
We also learnt from these disruptive times, resetting our approach in line with the need of the hour to provide ‘convenience' to our customers and ‘support to our trade partners.
Looking back, I must say that as a team we managed the turmoil with much lesser friction and negative
impact on our people, partners, customers, and our results. At the end of the day, the rich legacy of the Veedol brand and a culture that has fostered enduring relationships through our ecosystem for decades together came to the fore as our real strength and helped us emerge even stronger enduring relationships through our ecosystem for decades together came to the fore as our real strength and helped us emerge even stronger.
How do you measure and understand the growth drivers for your company?
We have been steadily growing our international footprints and that will continue to grow in the next few years. We have a global presence in over 70 countries.
In the domestic market our focus is to expand in potential segments like passenger cars and commercial vehicles, while holding our own in two wheelers and agriculture segments. Our B2B/OEM side of the business is also a key focus area, given the vast opportunities and headroom available.
For the emerging, e-vehicles we are ready with our e-fluid range of coolants and transmission oils underlining our standing as a strong, future ready company.
What are the best industry practices that reflect the implementation of programs in manufacturing and supply chain?
Our plants are approved and certified under the prestigious and important norms of ISO 14001, ISO 31000 and ISO 45001. We are investing in inventory management and logistics to minimise the carbon footprint by partnering with professional logistic service providers and implementing digital initiatives within the organisation. Robotics and Green energy initiatives through solar energy at our production units have been a major step forward in achieving manufacturing excellence.
Arijit Basu, Executive Director, Veedol
Arijit is a Chemistry honours graduate from Kolkata University and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C). Furthermore, he has done Leadership Development Program at IMD, Lausanne (Switzerland).
Awards & Recognition: In 2016 he was felicitated by the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Excellence Award for outstanding individual achievements.
How do you measure and understand the growth drivers for your company?
We have been steadily growing our international footprints and that will continue to grow in the next few years. We have a global presence in over 70 countries.
In the domestic market our focus is to expand in potential segments like passenger cars and commercial vehicles, while holding our own in two wheelers and agriculture segments. Our B2B/OEM side of the business is also a key focus area, given the vast opportunities and headroom available.
For the emerging, e-vehicles we are ready with our e-fluid range of coolants and transmission oils underlining our standing as a strong, future ready company.
What are the best industry practices that reflect the implementation of programs in manufacturing and supply chain?
Our plants are approved and certified under the prestigious and important norms of ISO 14001, ISO 31000 and ISO 45001. We are investing in inventory management and logistics to minimise the carbon footprint by partnering with professional logistic service providers and implementing digital initiatives within the organisation. Robotics and Green energy initiatives through solar energy at our production units have been a major step forward in achieving manufacturing excellence.
Arijit Basu, Executive Director, Veedol
Arijit is a Chemistry honours graduate from Kolkata University and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C). Furthermore, he has done Leadership Development Program at IMD, Lausanne (Switzerland).
Awards & Recognition: In 2016 he was felicitated by the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Excellence Award for outstanding individual achievements.