The paradigm shift is obvious. As it completes 60 years of existence, the Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) is in the process of changing its way of looking at its core work -- of promoting industrialisation in Vidarbha, known hitherto as a backward area of Maharashtra. But that tag -- backward -- seems to hurt the VIA leadership somewhere. And the resolve now appears to converge on making the Vidarbha entrepreneur play his or her part better, with a greater focus -- so that the quality of industry in the region rises to the next level. “We need to open our minds to greater, better possibilities, in tune with our potential,” asserts VIA President Vishal Agrawal. “Basically, Vidarbha’s industry has had people who traversed from trading to manufacturing. That process certainly had its own merit, its own substance. It did work for some time. But with the changing business environment, the industrialist from Vidarbha must become far more entrepreneurial than he has been,” Vishal Agrawal says speaking exclusively with ‘The Hitavada’. “It means, we have to change our thinking -- our ‘soch’.

 

We have got to look at our challenges through newer, cleaner lenses -- so that our enterprises match the demands of the changing times,” the VIA President adds. The word ‘soch’ (thinking) appears to act as a trigger for Vishal Agrawal. In a previous interview as well, he had used the word with much emphasis. The success or otherwise of an enterprise is in the ‘soch’ of the people engaged in it, he had insisted then. Now also, he lays a great emphasis on right thinking as a core attribute of an entrepreneur, particularly from a region like Vidarbha, saying clearly that ‘Chhoti soch’ would not help anybody in today’s industrial atmosphere. In Vidarbha’s industry, earlier there used to be an atmosphere of complaint, of whining, of pointing fingers at lacunae in the situation. “That showed certain helplessness. Or may be, the people were finding excuses for not doing the right thing. That kind of approach does not work any more. Entrepreneurship is no longer the activity of the lazy people,” he says. Sharing his observations on the current industrial scene in Vidarbha, Vishal Agrawal insists that there is a sea-change in the situation. “There is a greater political will available now -- to help the industry in whatever way possible. There are far better facilities available to industry in every which the way. Though Vidarbha was located, it still suffered from modes of quick transport. This picture is no longer available now,” he states.