Suresh Singaravelu (51), CEO, Prestige Estates, who is building India’s largest multiplex, The Forum on Hosur Road, should have read James Redfield’s Celestine Prophecy and all the coincidences it
dwells on. Because his life has had its share of coincidences.
There he was in the waiting area at the Chennai airport when he got talking with a group from Singapore. When he was waiting to take his interconnecting flight at the Bangalore airport, he met the very same men again. And this time, they offered him a job: to take up retailing for Spencer Plaza in Chennai.
And he took it up to engineer two new concepts: Just kidding, an 8,500 square feet showroom for children that included attractions like a train chugging along the ceiling, and 1-2-3 Store, a price point showroom of imported products for Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 300.
Though born in Chennai, Singaravelu landed in Bangalore in the mid-50s. He lived in front of the police commissioner’s office on Infantry Road, a place now home to Ganjam and Spice Telecom among other things. “At the time, the place was full of monkeys and today, it’s bats who are much less of a nuisance,” says Singaravelu, whose office is coincidentally now on Infantry Road. “I returned to Bangalore one and a half years ago when I got a job offer from the Prestige Group because my son was studying here at the National Law School.”
Though his first shy at a job was making it past the jury to become a probationary officer with the State Bank of India in Nagapatnam in Tamil Nadu, Singaravelu quit after three months and chanced upon an advertisement by Union Carbide. He made past the three rounds of interviews, beating over 200 people to it.
In 1974, Singaravelu landed his first job as management trainee with Union Carbide. From internal auditing for a year in Delhi to financial planning in the chemical and plastics division in Mumbai to managing the carbon and metals division in Kolkata as a finance and accounts manager, Singaravelu’s work ran the whole gamut. “In internal audit, it was all about compliance of systems and procedures preventing people from being lackadaisical and also suggesting ways to do things in a better way with the benefit of hindsight,” he explains. “In finance, it was about foresight and management audit where we also looked at re-engineering systems and processes, including performance and operational improvement programmes, budgeting, business plans and negotiations with the labour union.”
Ironically, when he was transferred to Kolkata, he also became the ex-officio general secretary of the Workmen’s Cooperative Credit Society (‘In Kolkata, you have to lead by example. They might not do your bidding at work, but ask them for a personal favour and they will go out of their way to do it’).
When he was made head of finance in Bhopal, he found himself selling pesticides. Everything was going along swimmingly until tragedy struck. In the early morning hours of December 3, 1984, a rolling wind carried a poisonous grey cloud past the walk of the Union Carbide C plant and an estimated 8,000 or more people died. About 300,000 more would suffer agonising injuries from the disastrous effects of the massive poisoning while none could say if future generations would be affected. Singaravelu sympathises with the victims, but does not agree with the numbers. Was Union Carbide really to be blamed? Says Singaravelu: “The case is still on after two decades with no end in sight. i recall investigation agencies simulating possible causes with no conclusive result.” He quotes Arthur Conan Doyle (‘When you rule out the causables, whatever is left, however improbable, might be the truth’) and says, “So perhaps the presumption of negligence is not right.”
When Singaravelu left Union Carbide in 1986 as head of finance and administration, he switched tracks and became an executive director with Alsa, a Chennai-based company into property development and shrimp farming. A year later, he joined Dharmsee Parpi, a leather firm head-quartered in Chennai with worldwide presence. Then he joined Chaitanya in Chennai, which was into properties and restaurants. “We also did goat farming and experimented with a meat retailing format called Hot Chops with air-conditioning, carpeting, piped music and with the manager wearing a tie and the place not smelling at all,” he says. “Fresh meat is not the best meat. For best results, it should be kept at a certain temperature for a certain time to make it tastier and more tender.”
As an HR exercise, Singaravelu set aside 10 per cent of the employee’s salary to be handed over directly to their parents who were over 60 years old. When he was with Union Carbide in Bhopal, he would take employees and their families on picnics and plan games where everyone went home with a prize. “Wisdom is not about what you know but is to know what you don’t know,” says Singaravelu. “Train your subordinates in such a way that he makes you redundant so you in turn make your boss redundant. And that will prompt further growth. If you guard knowledge, it might make you feel powerful, but when you share, it will bring success.”
Singaravelu is all for integrity. “If you are emotionally genuine, that quality cannot be imitated. Either it’s there or not there. And you end up building an organisation with superior value systems that are sensitive, inspirational and authentic.”
When he’s not working, he marks time cooking a different dish every time and reading books on philosophy and business. “I used to swim but now I have no time,” says Singaravelu. “And I love horse riding, but my wife (Tripta) doesn’t let me do it… maybe she has read the fine print in insurance policies (that dishonour claims of people who died while riding).”
FAST FACTS
Suresh Singaravelu, 51
CEO, Prestige Estates
MBA, Madras University
Worked with Union Carbide for 13 years
Was executive director for Alsa, a property development company and Dharmsee Parpi, a leather firm, both in Chennai
Was president of SI Properties, Chennai; worked for Spencer Plaza, Chennai
A vociferous reader; loves to cook, swim and ride horses
(First published in City Reporter, 2003)