By- Aryaan ParwezBorn and raised in Delhi, Kapil Pal has always been a rebel. He completed his schooling at the Army Public School in Delhi, which used to be one of the top 5 schools in Delhi during those days. Later, he did his computer engineering from Dr. D. Y. Patil College of Engineering in Pune.
“I was a young rebel and did not want to back to Delhi. I once came back to pick clothes” Kapil said. He explained how “B. Tech from Computer Science is a key to the US. Only 3-4 people stayed back in India and the rest moved”. However, to his surprise, he had to move back to Delhi as he received a higher salary there and not in Pune. He later did his dual MBA from the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. His MBA specialization was Marketing and IT. His father was in auditing work. “He was with CAG, that’s the largest government audit organization in the country. He was a chief auditor there. My mom was a homemaker and managed the house”, he added.
In his college days, Pal used to enjoy taking part in dirt rallies and race tracks. “Pune used to be a student’s hub in those days and youngsters would be there for a lot of two-wheeler amateur rallies and dirt tracks happening which you now see everywhere but in those days they were very unorganized. He used to borrow bikes from his friends and they used to decide who’d have to fill the tanks for riding the same. Kapil had many falls during riding due to which he fractured his tailbone, something that he got to know later in life while working. The same bunch of friends is still connected.
Early Career
Pal’s first-ever job was in Delhi, as a customer support engineer in Chipsoft which required data processing and MIS-related work. He earlier got a job through campus in Videocon, which required him to stay in Pune but rejected it as he was being paid double in Chipsoft. He worked there for a year. “The firm one was more like a training ground, learning what IT services and support is all about”, he explained.
Later, Pal joined an organization called Unicorp, which was a Rs 350 crore organization at that time. “It was the 4th largest IT organization”, Kapil said. In the first year itself, he was promoted to the position of territory manager. The next year was the area manager, then branch manager, and eventually, he led the entire region. “I was the youngest person in the team to an extent that people who were taking my induction were all 7-8 years more experienced guys and after few years they all reported to me”, he added. He received immense recognition there, including being labeled as the employee of the year.
Pal later joined Citibank Singapore Services during the time when BPO happened in India. He then moved to Microland to head the North and East region and worked there for two years before leaving for Global Vantedge, where he worked for 8 years. He was one of the co-founders of the company, which was a collection organization. With almost 46,000 people at that time, he was the fourth employee of the start-up company. He ended up hiring bosses from various countries.
His next shift was for a minuscule amount of time in Stanko as a CTO. “It doesn’t even reflect much”, he adds. He became a CTO for India and Africa there. “Went to Africa and bid for outsourcing work that Airtel was supposed to give. We got Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, DRC (the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Uganda. About 1.2 Billion outsourcing businesses got picked up by different Indian organizations. It was a piece of substantially big news back then”, he explained.
Pal later returned to India when his father expired and joined PepsiCo. “It was a huge change and shift, in 2010 I joined Pepsi and that was again an entry to a 24/7 large organization”, he said. His work there was remarkable, to say the least. Kapil worked there for 4 years and then quit Pepsi, “because I got a role in CSC to lead an organization that is in the top 4 after IBM and HP. A layer 3 role for a company handling infrastructure for 70 plus countries is not a small role”, he said.
Lessons learned in life
“There is no shortcut to hard work. That comes from my dad. I learned a lot from him. You have to be at peace with yourself mentally. Don’t be unsatisfied with what you’re doing”, he explained. Kapil explained how his father struggled during his time to make an end’s meet which heavily inspired him to be what he is now. “From a family of zamindars who had all across but due to the partition now it was all lost. He came back with only his certificate, no papers, no documents. All of a sudden in your own country you are called a refugee. However, he supported the entire family, worked hard, and became an IAS. He has led various verticals with the Government of India.
Another thing he learned was from his boss at Global Vantedge.” He did his engineering when he was 13 and a half, and did his masters at the age of 16. His name was in the Guinness Book of world records”, he said. From him, he learned to start things from scratch and still succeed in life. He learned to live each day, enjoy life with whatever it has to offer, but be productive when it came to working.
Achievements in Life
On being asked about some of his achievements, he expressed how proud he was when he was able to turn an organization from a sales-based one to a service-based one. Another achievement for him was to understand the CPG business earlier in his young days and implementing a go-to-market solution for PepsiCo. However, what he considered his biggest achievement was when he joined LafargeHolcim. “The largest out of all them was LafargeHolcim, where all these learnings I got were put to test. I joined as an Indian guy and very soon became an APAC Services head, moved the headquarters from Singapore to Mumbai. I was the only Indian who single-handedly went there”, he explained. He was the head of the IT Central Service Desk for Asia in Manila for Bangladesh, Singapore, NZ, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. He was also the head of Asia’s IT Service Operations.
Hobbies and interests
When it comes to his hobbies, Pal has evolved over the years. He enjoys spending time with himself, listens to music, and loves to drive which earlier used to be his passion. He likes to change cars and not drive the same car over and over again. As a result, he has changed over 20 cars throughout his career. “That went well with the job as well because you are always on the move, so you will always need a vehicle. Work and passion got together”, he said. Although he never got the chance to explore and ride the country due to his work pressure, he has different vehicles belonging to different states.
Pal’s main motto in life is “to be content and give your best”. He prefers giving his 100 percent in whatever he does in life and has a positive attitude and outlook towards life. Being positive is his biggest trait which allows him to take risks and think outside the box.
