Rakesh Amol, President, Infrastructure and Cables, KEC International Limited
As president, infrastructure and cables, KEC International, Rakesh Amol leads the infrastructure arm of the company, comprising its cables business, RPG Cables, as well as railways and water. KEC is a leading manufacturer of telecom cables and has an optic fibre cables (OFC) manufacturing capacity of 0.6 fibre million km and a copper telecom cables manufacturing capacity of 0.6 million core km. It also provides signalling and telecommunications services to the railways.
KEC has three cable manufacturing facilities in Vadodara, Gujarat; Mysuru, Karnataka; and Silvassa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The company expects a significant growth in demand for OFC on the back of increasing 3G and 4G network installations along with the BharatNet programme, which seeks to provide high-speed broadband connectivity to 250,000 gram panchayats across the country. In addition to the domestic market, the company is witnessing a huge demand for OFC in the international market.
An engineer from BITS Mesra, Amol obtained an MBA in finance from FMS, Delhi University. As the power sector opened its doors to private players back in the 1990s, Amol saw it as an excellent career opportunity. “The motivation to pursue a full-time career in this sector came sometime in the mid-1990s. The sector, which was then predominantly the preserve of a few large public sector corporations, started opening up to the private sector and a number of multinational corporations began enhancing their local footprint to get a share of this huge market in a geography that was considered grossly power deficit,” says Amol.
In his three-decade-long career, he has worked with a number of organisations including SPX Corporation of US, Clyde Blowers Capital, Clyde Pumps UK, Alstom Projects India, Voith Siemens Hydro, Mitsui Babcock Energy and Mecon.
Amol believes in creating value through people and engaging positively with them to accomplish bigger goals. “I truly believe in the adage that happy employees make the best and most hard-working employees, and I work towards achieving this,” he says. He likes to watch movies (3 Idiots being his favourite), listen to music, and spend time with his family and friends. He also likes teaching and sharing his experience in functional areas with students in business schools. About his personal goals, Amol says, “There are a few places on my vacation wish list where I’d like to go to and spend some time.”
