Prakash Tandon: A pioneer

Tandon will be remembered for his Indianness which transformed HLL into a truly Indian company

When Lever Brothers India was merged with Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company (HVM) to form Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) in 1956, the word Hindustan came from HVM, where at that time Prakash Tandon was the driving force.

By the time Prakash became the first Indian chairman of HLL in 1961, he was the first national of a developing country to become the chairman of a Unilever subsidiary.

He made HLL truly Indian not only in name but also in spirit. There was a genuine realisation in London, and a sense of pride in Bombay that Indians could manage the company.

My first exposure to Prakash was in 1958, when he was the finance director and I was a rookie manager in what was called "Work Study" in the factory. I had been asked to speak at an HLL accounts conference held at Rambagh Palace hotel in Jaipur.

In those days, accountants and marketing people were the top dogs in the company. Technical people like me were the underdogs. I must have made some kind of an impression because after my talk, Prakash asked me to go for an evening walk with him. That was his way of showing his appreciation and probably of creating an opportunity to assess this unknown young man.

He was a stickler for controlling costs. He lived a spartan life compared to other Indian heads of multinational companies at that time. On his frequent trips to Delhi, he stayed in a small flat leased from the India International Centre.

Although he had a great dress sense, he chose to wear a simple cream-coloured raw silk bush shirt so that he could identify himself more closely with his peers in government, secretaries like K B Lal and Ranganathan.

He devoted time to discuss issues with them and gave impartial advice because he could identify himself with the national interest. That made him a trusted advisor to secretaries and ministers of the government. He established a tradition of relationship with government, which all his successors emulated.

In 1964, when I decided to leave HLL and join MRF at the urging of my wife's family, his prophetic advice to me was that I would find it difficult to fit into a family-managed company where blood relationships mattered more than one's performance.

But when I told him about the dire straits of MRF, he understood my position and wished me good luck. Two years later, after I had helped to turn around MRF, Prakash's predictions began to come true. I became so uncomfortable in the family set-up that I looked for a change. When HLL offered to take me back, Prakash as chairman backed that idea fully. He never once reminded me of his prediction!

He was a keen observer of whatever he saw or heard and had a habit of making notes in green ink for follow-up action on a small pad which he carried in his shirt pocket. Many of us learned that useful habit from him and do so even today.

One of the common weaknesses amongst managers of companies throughout the world is to promote people from their own community or nationality. It happens not only in India but also in the US and Europe.

While Prakash was proud of his Punjabi heritage, he never favoured or promoted Punjabis. His closest associates in the company were Maurice Zinkin, a Britisher, and R. Ramaswamy, a Tamil Brahmin. His chosen successor was Vasant Rajadhyakshya, a Maharashtrian. His successors have maintained this secular tradition in HLL.

Prakash had a forbidding effect on younger managers. In HLL, there is an institution called the "Prayer Meeting" which is held in the board room every Tuesday. It is attended by all the senior managers in the head office who sit around the board table along with the directors.

It is presided over by the chairman, who will ask various Managers to speak about their work or their tours. Prakash used these meetings for effective corporate communication.

According to HLL folklore, this meeting is called a Prayer Meeting because each of the younger managers prays before entering the board room that he would not be called upon by the chairman to speak.

He was a clear thinker, a good speaker and a lucid writer. His AGM speeches at HLL were themselves essays in corporate management. His autobiographical trilogy is a classic. He was a pioneer in management education in India.

He was so impressed with the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School that he got involved in the setting up of IIM (Ahmedabad) with Harvard University.

Prakash enjoyed the intellectual stimulus and contributed greatly to IIM (Ahmedabad) becoming the premier IIM in India. He was a very good teacher and put all his energies to support Ravi Mathai as its first director.

His increasing involvement in advising ministers and government secretaries eventually resulted in his being persuaded to accept the chairmanship of the State Trading Corporation in 1968. He did a thoroughly professional job and set very high standards in that corporation.

But he was too upright for the liking of the cabinet minister in charge of STC. Prakash chose to leave that job rather than compromise on his principles.

By that time he had earned such a high reputation in the government that they asked him to become the chairman of the nationalised Punjab National Bank. He built it up to be one of the most successful banks in the country.

Prakash was loyal to people who worked with him at all levels, whether as colleagues on the board or even as his chauffeur. He lived a simple life in his retirement. He drove his own small Fiat car around Delhi till he was persuaded by some of us to keep a driver.

Like many ex-Leverites, even in retirement he continued to be keenly interested in the progress of the company and its people. But he never interfered or expressed any views on the company's affairs. To avoid any possible hint of interference he never even came back to the head Office building till many years later, when I invited him to come and have lunch with me.

Prakash will be remembered for his innate Indianness which transformed HLL into a truly Indian company, and for his strict financial probity in all his dealings. Truly he was a great example in corporate management, and has been an icon for generations of Indian managers.