Rajiv Gupta, Circle Business Head, Odisha, Aircel
Rajiv Gupta, Aircel’s business head for the Odisha circle, brings to the table over two decades of experience across diverse industries such as IT, insurance and telecom. He has spent around 12 years in the telecom sector. Prior to joining Aircel, he worked with MTS India as chief operating officer for the Kolkata and the rest of West Bengal circle.
Gupta feels that the increasing penetration of mobile internet in deeper pockets of the country, emergence of mobile applications and introduction of new technologies on the back of the Digital India vision are the key drivers for the sector’s growth. “The future looks even brighter with smart technologies coming into the picture – IoT with machine-to-machine communication is set to redefine life as we live it today. There are enormous opportunities for the sector and this would make a very interesting space to watch.”
Gupta considers his current role at Aircel as one of the most exciting and challenging assignments of his telecom career. “The past two years have seen the telecom industry change completely, with voice starting to take a back seat and data becoming the point of focus for all operators. Witnessing that change in Odisha and being responsible for one of the leading player’s operations in an important market like this is even more exciting.”
Gupta recognises his strong general management and problem solving skills as his key strengths. “I am a remarkable strategist and a quick thinker, who strives to execute a task in the shortest possible time to take on competition. I believe in inclusive leadership and possess the ability to build a high performance team,” he adds. He sometimes gets overwhelmed by challenges and takes risks to succeed. “I look for perfection in execution, which sometimes strains my teams, but at last the results do delight,” says Gupta.
Speaking of his management style, Gupta says that he encourages his team to take on responsibilities and perform in tough situations. “I truly believe that the God is in the detail, and like to go into the smallest aspects of critical activities and monitor them very closely,” he says.
Gupta is an engineer from Rajasthan University. In his spare time, he likes to exercise, listen to old songs and watch movies. His family comprises his wife, who is a home maker, his son, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in engineering and his daughter, who studies in the sixth standard.
