Ramesh Vaswani, Senior Adviser, Intex Technologies

Ramesh Vaswani knows the pulse of the telecom sector, having spent five decades in this industry. In his current position as senior adviser, Intex Technologies, his key responsibility is to guide the company on public policy matters and to provide strategic inputs.

He joined Intex in 2002 as president of the company. “I have been with Intex since we started restructuring it to make it a completely professionally managed company,” he says. In 2006, he was ap­pointed executive vice-chairman, a position he held till he retired in 2012. He still continues to be a non-executive director on the board of the company.

Prior to Intex, Vaswani worked in various segments across the telecom domain. He also has vast experience in mechanical engineering and plastic packaging as well as in the software and hardware domains. “I have successfully turned around a sick company and have experience in re­str­uc­­turing another one,” he says. He has also worked overseas for a period of five years, and turned around two sick companies in Nigeria.

Commenting on the changing manufacturing la­nd­­­scape in the country, Vas­wani says he foresees India emerging as a strong manufacturing hub in the future. The country will become a key manufacturer of telecom equipme­nt, electronics equipment and mobile phones, driven by various policy initiatives. “The National Electro­nics Policy and the Telecom Policy have given a big boost to local manufacturing. More­over, the Union Budget 2015 enabled duty protection on the assembly and manufacturing of mobile phones, which has helped the sector a lot,” he notes.

Vaswani believes that the industry has a bright future owing to two key reasons. First, the government’s “Make in India” initiative, which will give a big fillip to domestic manufacturing, and second, the global competitiveness established by the Indian manufacturing industry.

In terms of his management style, Vaswani says that he believes in free communication in his team and in delegating work. “I like to delegate work to people in order to de­ve­lop them and enable them to shoulder greater responsibility,” he says.

Vaswani has a B.Tech deg­ree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Insti­tute of Technology, Mad­ras. His family comprises his wife and two sons. While work keeps him fairly busy, in his spare time, he likes walking, listening to music and watching Bolly­wood movies.