Executive Interview
Executive Interviews
An Interview with
Devesh Poddar
Co-Founder
Innovative Hydrocarbons (India) Pvt Ltd
Innovative Hydrocarbons (India) Pvt Ltd was founded in the September of 2020 with my Partner Mr. Narendra Bhutda.
The company is a Crisil Rated Company having 1 of the only 19 Operator Licenses in India for ALDS (Auto LPG Dispensing Stations).
We are currently servicing the LPG fuel to commercial vehicles with an open vision to expand to CNG, Electricals and Hydrogens as and when the need for them arise seeing the market needs and demands.
Publish Date:
20 December 2021
Tell us about your background, and what are you most passionate about?
Born into a Business Family that was into Real Estate Development in Nagpur, India I went onto garner a sense of understanding for Business and Finance right from the time I entered school.
Having studied and graduated in Commerce & Finance I was always drawn towards building multiple sources of Income as I never relied on a single source having seen the lean period in the Real Estate market back when I was in the school.
Now after establishing myself at work I'm most passionate about building & nurturing people & their businesses around me and helping them grow alongside myself.
Describe a time you had to make a tough decision (e.g. budget cuts, organizational restructuring, market withdrawal, etc.). What did you do and what was the result?
One of my early businesses were of being a Stock Broker for the Biggest Broking House in India.
Alongside being a Stock Broker I was primarily into Advisory of Equity and Derivatives Market.
The toughest decision being a Stock Broker was to ask all of my clients to book their holdings & shift their funds to Debt Funds as the Valuation seemed insanely unreasonable.
But as we say in the market you can never time the market, market kept rising for another few days but fortunately all my clients trusted my analysis. Few Days later the market saw one of the Biggest Crash in March 2020 bringing the Index down by more than 30%.
It was a tough decision to ask the clients to withdraw completely inspite of losing the business as a stock broker for a month but soon after the crash I cemented my goodwill even further as an Advisor.
How would others define your communication style? Do you prefer to be close to your employees or maintain a healthy distance, and why?
Communication has played the most crucial part in whatever success I've seen over the years.
Being Approachable is Key to grasp the issues and feedbacks at ground level and hence the in-time corrective guidance that will both save the cost & time for the Organisation.
I am an Approachable Leader at Work Place but with an undefined distance thats built by action over the course of business.
How has the industry been changing in recent years? What do you think are the biggest challenges your industry will face in the next 5 years?
Every Industry is bound to change with the onset of Digitalisation and change in Work Culture.
The most crucial industry that I'm a part of is the Alternative Fuel Industry which is going through a rapid adoption phase for the most efficient and cost effective fuel for most of the Industries globally.
The biggest challenge this Alternative Fuel Industry will face will be of the Sustainability of the Available Fuel Options such a CNG, LPG, Elecricals, Ethanol, Hydrogen etc.
Selecting one of the above that can be Sustainable but Cost Effective and Efficient will be the Biggest Challenge there is and everyone is playing the caution game at the moment.
What personality traits make a good leader?
The Biggest Personality Trait that makes a Good Leader is that of the Ability of Quick Informed Decision Making.
To be able to garner as much Data needed and the ability to process it into Information that can be utilized to take that "Informed Decision" is what gives edge to the Leader over Others.
What does the future hold for your company?
The future holds exciting times for my company as it's in the rapid adoption phase of the Alternative Fuel that we service at the moment namely LPG and CNG at the moment in India for the commercial automobile industry.
So for the next 10 years the growth trajectory is expected to be steep upwards if not vertical hoping if most of it goes as analysed and planned.