Raj Pillai: Transforming The Indian Construction Industry Using Precast Technology
Raj Pillai
CTO
Raj pioneered the concept of Ready Mix Concrete in India way back in the early 90s and believes precast construction to be the best way forward for the construction industry. Using precast technology, he has recently built over 10 million square feet of residential projects in India in the name of Sobha Dream Acres and delivered 200 homes within 20 months. Adding to the milestones, he has also carried out another 450 crores residential project in Bangalore, namely Provident Park Square using the state-of-the-art precast facility. Moreover, his great contributions to the infrastructure development of Bangalore city also include the construction of six stations for the Bangalore Metro, the Airport Surveillance Radar System at Bangalore Airport, and the four-lane road of NH-48 between Madiwala and Attibelle way back in the ’90s.
Apart from being an industrious business leader, Raj has been the Chairman and Vice President of the Indian Concrete Institute, Honorary CEO of the Karnataka Employers Association, Panel Member of the National Building Code 2016 on the precast section, Member of CED 32 for revision of 15916 and 11497,
Member of Hand-Book for Government Engineers by the Government of Karnataka. He has been an adjunct Professor at NMIT Bangalore for M-tech students and has also authored a book ‘Corporate Safari’ on ethical corporate governance. Let’s hear it from him.
Tell us about your association with JMC Projects India.
JMC Projects is a renowned construction company under ‘Kalpataru Group’, a reputed transnational conglomerate, with transnational operations. It is one of the few construction companies in India, certified under ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management), ISO14001:2015 (Environment Management), and BS OHSAS 45001:2018 (Occupational Health & Safety). I began my association with the organization in the Bengaluru region in the year 2021 as the CTO. Under my role, I have been facilitating the concept of precast construction in the company and have already set up a factory for the same on the outskirts of Bangalore city.
What are the traits that best define your leadership style?
I strongly believe that it is important for leaders to put their words into action because the people who work with them can very easily see through. Therefore, they need to be at the front and lead by example. Leaders are the ones who take the brunt if anything goes wrong, and give the credit to their team if everything goes right. Hence, they must be extremely sensitive about their team and invest time in mentoring people who can get into their shoes. And most importantly, they should not be afraid of getting good people around them because only a good team can help them deliver the best and grow successfully.
Under your administration, what is the kind of technology framework residing within your services that
Tell us about your association with JMC Projects India.
JMC Projects is a renowned construction company under ‘Kalpataru Group’, a reputed transnational conglomerate, with transnational operations. It is one of the few construction companies in India, certified under ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management), ISO14001:2015 (Environment Management), and BS OHSAS 45001:2018 (Occupational Health & Safety). I began my association with the organization in the Bengaluru region in the year 2021 as the CTO. Under my role, I have been facilitating the concept of precast construction in the company and have already set up a factory for the same on the outskirts of Bangalore city.
Precast Technology is considered the best technology all over the world; with Precast, managing the workforce becomes easier, and quality, health & safety benchmarks become better
What are the traits that best define your leadership style?
I strongly believe that it is important for leaders to put their words into action because the people who work with them can very easily see through. Therefore, they need to be at the front and lead by example. Leaders are the ones who take the brunt if anything goes wrong, and give the credit to their team if everything goes right. Hence, they must be extremely sensitive about their team and invest time in mentoring people who can get into their shoes. And most importantly, they should not be afraid of getting good people around them because only a good team can help them deliver the best and grow successfully.
Under your administration, what is the kind of technology framework residing within your services that
ensures the safety and quality aspects in the execution of your projects?
When it comes to technology, I believe that the construction should be as much as off-site then onsite. When it comes to offsite consumption, Precast Technology is considered the best technology all over the world; with Precast, managing the workforce becomes easier, and quality, health & safety benchmarks become better. In my opinion, as long as we are doing offsite construction by using any form of technology, Precast being one of them, it is the answer to better quality and better safety management.
It is beyond doubt that if India has to change in terms of infrastructure, the way the world has, Indian companies, especially the construction and real estate companies have to adopt technologies, and one of the best ways of doing that is encouraging precast construction. However, I am sure that with the way India is changing, very soon technologies will be the driving force in the construction industry.
What is the future destination you are heading towards?
The future of the Indian construction industry is going to be driven by speed & productivity and I believe the mantra to achieve these milestones is technology. At the same time, to achieve great productivity at the construction site, we require an effective workforce. Unfortunately, the kind of workforce we deal with lack of appropriate training and skill set which directly affects productivity. Therefore, the future that I have envisioned for my company revolves around the enhancement of our productivity by putting the right use of technology.
Raj Pillai, CTO, JMC Projects INDIA
Raj has a Civil Engineering with an advanced degree from Doncaster College, the UK, and is currently the CTO of JMC Projects (A Kalpataru Group Enterprise). Previously, he has worked with SICL(a Puravankara subsidiary) as the MD, with SOBHA as Executive Director, and with RMC Ready Mix as VP (Pan India Operations).
When it comes to technology, I believe that the construction should be as much as off-site then onsite. When it comes to offsite consumption, Precast Technology is considered the best technology all over the world; with Precast, managing the workforce becomes easier, and quality, health & safety benchmarks become better. In my opinion, as long as we are doing offsite construction by using any form of technology, Precast being one of them, it is the answer to better quality and better safety management.
It is beyond doubt that if India has to change in terms of infrastructure, the way the world has, Indian companies, especially the construction and real estate companies have to adopt technologies, and one of the best ways of doing that is encouraging precast construction. However, I am sure that with the way India is changing, very soon technologies will be the driving force in the construction industry.
What is the future destination you are heading towards?
The future of the Indian construction industry is going to be driven by speed & productivity and I believe the mantra to achieve these milestones is technology. At the same time, to achieve great productivity at the construction site, we require an effective workforce. Unfortunately, the kind of workforce we deal with lack of appropriate training and skill set which directly affects productivity. Therefore, the future that I have envisioned for my company revolves around the enhancement of our productivity by putting the right use of technology.
Raj Pillai, CTO, JMC Projects INDIA
Raj has a Civil Engineering with an advanced degree from Doncaster College, the UK, and is currently the CTO of JMC Projects (A Kalpataru Group Enterprise). Previously, he has worked with SICL(a Puravankara subsidiary) as the MD, with SOBHA as Executive Director, and with RMC Ready Mix as VP (Pan India Operations).