The Indomitable Dilip
January 15, 2020
From CA apprenticeship and trying his luck at teaching, to finally heading production at the Mumbai (Patalganga) unit of Jindal Stainless Steelway Limited (JSSL), Mr Dilip Kumar Giri’s journey has been quite a roller-coaster. Read on to see why this relentless performer was sent to Italy just a few months after he joined our company!
Tell us about your life before Jindal Stainless.
I hail from the Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. After completing 12th standard, I moved to Delhi since my father was working there. I got enrolled in Delhi University for pursuing B. Com and started simultaneous preparations to become a Chartered Accountant (CA). I started my articleship with Jai Bhagwan & Associates in Delhi but I couldn’t clear the third exam for becoming a CA. My parents did not take this failure easily and stopped funding my expenses. I tried my hand at teaching in a school but the low pay made even sustenance extremely difficult. I then bagged a job at Bhushan Steel in 2000, which helped me pay for a Computer Applications course that I wanted to pursue. I was a line operator in Bhushan Steel and my learning in the one year I spent there helped me land a job at the newly opened Tata Ryerson (now Tata Steel Processing and Distribution Limited) service centre in Faridabad in 2001.
How has the Jindal Stainless journey been for you?
Joining this company was a childhood dream! Growing up, I’d always heard that ‘pipes lene hain to Jindal ke lo’. The exceptional focus on quality is what had earned Jindal Pipes this fame and it had since been my dream to work with this organisation. Since the time I started working, I was on the lookout for an opening in Jindal Stainless. And my patience was rewarded when I got an interview call. Mr S K Jain was the first person I met when I came for my interview. While waiting for my interview, I realized that everyone who had come to be interviewed for that profile was significantly older, and hence, more experienced than I was. But I did not want to give up! After I was interviewed, I told Mr S S Virdi, our then Director, that I have the passion and knowledge needed for this job; the only thing lacking was my age! I joined Jindal Stainless on Jan 3, 2005 and have happily completed 15 years here this month.I’m indebted to this company due to the kind of exposure and learning opportunities I have received here. A few months after I joined in 2005, the Gurgaon plant became operational and our mission was to make a world class service centre. We got international technology to India to achieve this goal. I was sent to Italy to learn the operational technicalities of the new machines we had procured. In 2009, I was entrusted with the responsibility of supporting Mr Aditya Goel setup our service centre in Spain under Iber Jindal. Not just these opportunities but even my everyday interactions with my colleagues here have taught me more than any college or university ever could.
Share one of your memorable experiences at work.
I’m fortunate to have numerous memorable experiences in Jindal Stainless, so it’s hard to pick just one but let me try. When the project work for the Gurgaon plant was completed and we commissioned production, Mr Rattan Jindal visited the plant. During the visit, he stopped at one place, looked at me with a smile on his face and said, “Finishing achhi aayegi na?” The faith with which he looked at me makes it a moment I cannot forget!
What do you like to do in your spare time? Thinking is my hobby, my passion. I love spending time with my thoughts, doing a root cause analysis of whatever is not going as planned in my life, at work, or in the society at large. I like spending time with my family – my wife and younger brother. I’m blessed to have a wife who has always supported me and has raised my younger brother as our son, along with being a practicing medical professional.
What is your message to Jindal Stainless family?
I want to share with my Jindal Stainless family what I have followed throughout my life. When we set out to achieve any goal, our will power and dedication should not be compromised at any cost. Even when the times are tough, we should have faith in our abilities and keep moving forward with unyielding passion.
