Companies need to stay future-ready, say panelists at The Next 500 panel discussion

The only way companies can make it to the big league is by investing in capability building on the operational side and nurturing the right people culture. This was the key takeaway from the five panelists who spoke at the Fortune India Next 500 panel discussion on what are the foundational blocks for companies to make it to the big league. Aseem Joshi, CEO, India Business, GMM Pfaudler, an engineering equipment company, said the company was successful in its business as it got the pulse of the industry. "We have grown from 1 to 3 factories in India, 16 globally, and that was because we knew there was growth happening in India and we expect that'll continue." He added that understanding customers' needs is paramount. "Not just hearing what they'll need today but anticipating what they'll need in the future," he said. On spotting new opportunities, Roopwant Singh (IAS), MD, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, said the PSU has made capex plans of ₹3,000 crore. "Whatever we did in the past is based on lignite, we have now moved into coal. The capacity that'll come from coal is going to be two-and-a-half of what we have in lignite," said the bureaucrat. Building on the consumption story of India, Sanjay Sehgal, President, Vanity Case Group of Companies & Hindustan Foods, said the company started off as one factory, one product company, but owns 27 factories. The contract manufacturer has now gone beyond FMCG by foraying into OTC pharma. Vishal Mehta, Founder, Infibeam Avenues, talked about the disruptive fintech industry where he believes the growth is "staggering and extraordinary". "In 2016, we processed 5,000 crore transactions in a year. We take a small fee on every transaction. For every hundred rupees, we make 7 paise. Just because the volume of transactions grows, our revenues grow. Last year, we did 4.5 lakh crore transactions, which means what we did in the whole year (back then), now we do in three days." With India committing itself to the net zero journey, the opportunities in green growth are humongous. Manish Dabkara, Chairman & MD, EKI Energy Services, said many factors are driving growth including the Mandatory Emission Trading Scheme, which the government recently declared.