TrainerMoto

BACKSTAGE

Firdose Vandrevala confesses to love challenges, and that could be one of the reasons why Motorola decided to rope him in to head its India operations. When Vandrevala, who has worked with the Tatas for 33 years in various businesses ranging from steel to telecom (where he headed the foray), took over, Motorola was way behind other handset manufacturers in terms of market share.

Today, according to Vandrevala, the company's turnover is over a billion dollars, and it has grown many multiples from what it was in 2005 when he took over.

In an interview to this paper after he took over, Vandrevala said, "I don't equate myself to a jockey, but to a trainer. I don't need a trained horse; I would love a pony. I would love to nurture him, train him and turn him into the best race horse."

So far, Vandrevala's done a good job with the firm's share in the fast-growing handset-market growing from 2-3 per cent in 2005 to around 11-12 per cent today. The company is all set to start producing handsets from India as well.

It has a software centre in Hyderabad, has signed joint venture agreements with Wipro and Tech Mahindra for global delivery works and set up Motolabs.

The company's latest equipment foray, a bid for BSNL's 45-million line mobile phone tender, was a big fiasco""the company was rejected on technical grounds.

This followed a messy court case which delayed BSNL's plans, and earned the company a lot of ill will. Vandrevala withdrew the case last week, though no one is certain as to what backroom manoeuvring preceded the move.

One view is that the case would hurt the company's prospects in getting other government business. This is something Vandrevala hinted at when he justified the decision.

"The lawsuit was hampering the growth of telephony infrastructure in the country, as BSNL could not award the contract to the lowest bidders. This was not good for the growth of the country, especially during the year that was declared as the year of the broadband," he said. The company, however, sticks to its original stance that its bid was in compliance with the tender conditions.

Vandrevala is a BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur, and did his MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He says he wants the company to grow not only in size, but also on the service and technology fronts. "Motorola should be relevant to India, and India should be relevant to Motorola," is how he puts it.