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Navigating success: From the Naval dockyard to corporate boardroom

Following a long and successful career with the Indian Navy, Commodore Navin Chandra made an interesting detour into the corporate world. He tells Punita Jasrotia that it was the discipline and people management skills that he had learnt in the Navy which helps him lead his team today

Each posting in the Navy brought in its own challenges which have helped in evolving my personality...

You might wonder before meeting Navin Chandra, the director and chief executive officer - India Operations of Infinite Computer Solutions, how the man would be able to communicate about an industry in which he has recently made an entry after spending most years of his career with the Indian Navy. But once he starts talking the doubts clear instantly. For even after being with the Navy for more than three decades it is Commodore Chandra’s undying enthusiasm, the spirit to learn and engineering skills, that have helped him transform smoothly to an equally dynamic world of information technology.

Joining the defense services in 1958 with the NDA, Chandra did his Bachelors in Electronics and was later responsible for looking after the Electronics and the IT departments of the Navy. During his 30 years in the Navy, his most memorable experiences have been his tenure at Naval Dockyard, Vishakhapatanam (where he was part of the senior management) and his posting as the commanding officer of the Naval Training Establishment at Jamnagar called ILS-Sura. According to him, there Chandra was not just involved in providing training on the basics of Navy, electronics, weapons and engineering requirements, but as the senior-most officer was also showcasing better management skills to both Indian and overseas officers. Talking about the NTE, Chandra says, “After going through the basic one-year specialised training, the sailor is sent for a six-month sea training. Besides this, the unit also provides regular skill upgradation courses and is a very respectable unit in the Navy.”

Describing his experiences in the dockyard, Chandra says that it was specially set up to cater to the major repair needs of the Russian-acquired submarines and naval ships. There Chandra held the role of deputy general manager - planning and later took over the charge of deputy general manager - production.

During the initial period from 1969-70, he had worked in the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai and held the position of director - systems, electrical electronics and also served in the Naval Headquarters.

Besides this in 1986 he was also involved in some of the very prestigious inter-services course from the National Defense College. “The one-year training consisted of interactivity with different officers, brigadiers, the administrative officers and also officials coming from different countries and was quite an enriching experience in terms of management skills,” he said. Chandra believes that besides this, it was also the grassroot level experience on how to react in a certain hostile situation and the engineering expertise gained during those days which have helped in making him what he is today.

Following his retirement in 1990 Chandra joined a telecom company called Mekastar. “The decision to opt for Mekastar was more because of the new challenges which it provided. Working with a PSU would have meant just an extension of what I had done in the past 32 years, whereas Mekastar provided me with a different work culture and environment,” he says.

However, after a three-year stint in the telecom sector, Chandra decided to make a shift to the more happening world of IT, when he joined Crown Corporation as its executive director. According to him, it was not a planned career move, but a flow, which took him away. Later, he was responsible for co-promoting IT Logic Software and became the managing director and promoter of Logicsoft International. After a stint of six years with IT Logic Software, Chandra made another career shift and joined Infinite Computer as their CEO - India Operations.

He was given the task of starting the Indian operations, establishing a state-of-the-art development centre and repeating the success story, which the company had already achieved in the US. Chandra has a lot of plans in his kitty, the first being focus on healthcare and financial sectors. The second is to concentrate on the European markets and bring in more business to India. Besides this the company is striving to acquire SEI CMM Level 3 certification by year-end 2001 and plans to acquire ISO 9001 certification by mid 2002.

According to him, though IT and Telecom sectors are the most happening fields in terms of technologies and business, what has been significant is his tenure in the Navy, which will always be close to his heart.

“The most important lessons, which I have learnt in my three decade long alliances are personnel and people management skills, disciplinarian way of working and the work ethics, which has not only helped me excel in my ‘services’ career but also helped me make a mark in the private sector. Each posting in the Navy brought in its own challenges which have helped in evolving my personality and have turned out to be some of the best lifetime experiences,” he says.

Besides an illustrious career in the Navy, Commodore Chandra is a fellow member of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication of Engineers and a founder member of the governing council of National Telematics Forum. He is also an associate member of the Computer Society of India.