Real Life Stories

Arvind Verma

Despite a severe orthopedic handicap, Arvind Verma enabled his company AIMIL to achieve remarkable progress in the era of globalization in which a large number of industries had to close down due to stiff competition. Let us now trace his inspiring life story from its very genesis.

Arvind was born healthy on May 15. He had his early education in St. Mary's School, Delhi. He was excellent in his studies and always enjoyed traveling in the hills. In June 1967, when he was 14 years old, one day he went to the hills to enjoy the scenery.

Suddenly, he remembered that it was late and soon as possible and seeing a steep grassy slope that looked like a good shortcut, he sat down, gave himself a push, and started sliding down the grass. His speed accelerated. Bushes and trees hid the danger below.

Suddenly the slope changed to a vertical precipice and he fell through the air. His back smashed against the rocks, knocking him unconscious. He remembered nothing after that. Later he was informed by the doctors that he would not be able to walk again as three ribs had pierced his spinal column.

However, his self-confidence was not damaged. While lying on the bed he thought not about his problem, but about its solutions. His family members were cooperative. In order to make the required facilities available to him, his father decided to sell off his assets in India and settle down in England.

At that time there were hardly any facilities for the disabled in India. His father, Harish Verma, was mid-career. If he left everything here, he would have to start afresh in England. There was a discussion in his family on this subject. Arvind, displayed his confidence and firmly said that India is his country and that he would face his disability here.

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After a long discussion the family decided that Arvind should be sent to England for rehabilitation and the rest of the family would stay here. Arvind reached Stoke Mandeville Hospital for Spinal Injuries. The National Spinal Injury Centre of U.K. was located there. He lived in this hospital for 20 months and 16 days, which was the shortest period spent there by a patient with spinal injury. Other patients normally took more time to recover.

They gave him a number of instructions. They told him how to sit on a wheelchair and use it for various purposes. They also trained him to do his daily activities in the easiest possible manner. There the patients and a fixed routine.

There were fixed time slots for physiotherapy swimming, archery, table tennis, etc. He was asked to practice all these activities in order to make his hands so strong that he could compensate for the weakness of the lower limbs with his hands. When the course of rehabilitation was complete in hospital, Arvind parents took him to Switzerland for a pleasure trip.

Here he found a new environment, which was not congenial to those with spinal injury. He saw that although Switzerland was a developed country, there were few facilities for the disabled. Even public awareness about the difficulties of the disabled were not very high.

However, Arvind was not disheartened by the situation in Switzerland. When he returned to India, he devoted most of his time in finding solutions to his future problems. He joined his old school, St. Mary's Roman Catholic School, again. He was one year behind his old friends. Despite adverse circumstances, he decided to qualify for the matriculation examination in time. He worked hard and did not miss class even once. With his will power he not only qualified for the examination but also got ranked fourth in his class.

When he was in school, there was an American family living in his neighborhood. The head of this family, Ernest, worked at the American Embassy and he started taking Arvind to "Roosevelt house", the official residence of the American Ambassador in New Delhi. Arrangements were made for him to swim in a special pool. Arvind used to feel shy to swim in the presence of people.

Ernest found a solution to this and arranged for him to swim when there was no one else around. One life guard would stay with Arvind. He practiced for one hour a day for six months. He started doing the backstroke very well and breaststroke and achieved a speed that was more than the qualifying speed for paralympic games for the disabled.

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Meanwhile, the excellent result in the matriculation examination encouraged Arvind and his interest in studies grew. In light of his physical problems, somebody suggested that he complete his studies through correspondence, but this was not acceptable to Arvind. He got admission to St. Stephen's College as a regular student. Since his financial background was sound he employed some assistants who used to lift him to various classrooms. And hence, Arvind received a B.A. (Hons) degree in 1973.

Soon after Arvind decided that he wanted to become a chartered accountant and he started working in Price Waterhouse. At the same time, he registered himself in an institute for studies in chartered accountancy. He used to work in Price Waterhouse during the day and attend classes in the evening. He worked hard for four years and became a chartered accountant in 1977.

In 1977, while at Price Waterhouse, his father decided to sell AIMIL. His father and his colleagues were finding it difficult to run the company. AIMIL was established in 1932 and its English owners had established it to market precision measuring equipment. This company marketed equipment not only in India but also in South East Asia, and had a good reputation for quality as well as after-sales service.

When Arvind came to know that his father was planning to sell the company, he started taking interest in it. He assessed that the situation was not so bad. He researched its history and found that it was indeed a progressive company having introduced equipment measuring the parameters of land, cement, and concrete at a time when construction work was booming in the country.

He found that in the era of electronics during the 1960s, AIMIL had introduced calibration facilities in India for the first time. Arvind concluded that in the 1970s and 1980-s India would progress in the field of space, atomic energy, and defense research, for which AIMIL had already developed a good network for manufacturing and marketing.

After assessing the situation and finding that his company was capable of selling equipment like electron microscopes, mass spectrometers, chromatographs, etc. he suggested that it was better to run the company than to sell it. He resigned from his well-settled job at Price Waterhouse and started working in the manufacturing department of AIMIL.

The situation of the company was not good. Its market share was down but Arvind worked hard to improve things. In six months, he had reduced the size of the company and increased its productivity. He reorganized the whole company. From 1977 to 1986 he looked after its manufacturing activities and 1986 onward he looked after marketing and exports as well. In a span of 20 years he had worked in all the departments of AIMIL.

Before the death of his father in 1996, Arvind moulded his organization is such a way so that it would fit the open economy. To face competition he acquired ISO 9000. He bought quality control equipment in order to maintain the quality of the products. He established an automatic system to increase productivity. As per his father's desire, he took up the challenge of making available modern and quality equipment to their consumers.

Despite all this, people believed that after his father's death, the situation would deteriorate as the company and his father were synonymous. Arvind took over as chief executive of the company.

By this time he had a wide experience in manufacturing, marketing, and corporate management. He had understood the work culture of the company and also his father's method of working. He had seen that his father treated every employee of the company like a family member. He also encouraged every employee of the company to perform better. He also attempted to improve the image of the company from the outside.

Arvind visualized that the environment would be the main issue of concern in the world in the 21st century. So he collaborated with a French company and began to bring in technology which was environment-friendly.

Under his leadership, AIMIL started six projects in 1997-1998. Among these was the metro project in Athens, Greece, by which a civil engineer would know if there was an earthquake, and what its impact would be on the construction in that area. This information could help in the construction of a dam or a metro in the future.

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Today, Arvind also manages to find time for other activities. He represents his company in the Punjab, Haryana and Delhi Chamber of Commerce. He participates in various meeting of export promotion councils. He takes part regularly in the activities of the Trade Development Authority, Association of Indian Industries and Association of Dealers and impresses them with his knowledge. His role in the Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industries has been widely appreciated.

Arvind also spends time writing and his articles are regularly published in various technical journals. National dailies like 'The Hindu' publish his articles. He has the latest knowledge of all aspects of management and people feel immensely proud and satisfied when they consult him. He is a regular member of the India Geotechnical Society, Indian Concrete Institute and other such organizations.

His interest is not limited to his work field but goes beyond and covers various social activities. He enjoyed working in the Rotary Club. When he started working in this field in a big way, many people expressed doubts about his capability. They said that a disabled man cannot serve other people.

But he kept on doing social work. He fulfilled various responsibilities of the Rotary Club. At the age of 36 years, he became probably one of the youngest presidents of the Rotary Club. He was selected as the best President out of 70 club presidents of his district. He received a number of awards from the Club. Apart from being president of his club, he was advisor to the governor of his district.

Normally disabled people are disappointed with their bodies. They do not put in effort to keep their bodies fit. But Arvind regularly goes to Gymkhana Club for exercises. He also goes to the Golf Club. He listens to music and reads, when he finds time.

Forty-seven-year-old Arvind dreams of extending the benefit of his company AIMIL to the entire world. For this purpose, he has taken up challenging jobs such as completely engineering the railway station near the crowded Chawri Bazaar in Delhi. To execute the work AIMIL has arranged all the equipment and prepared technical specifications. The turnover of his company has reached Rs. 40 crore. There are 275 employees, whose future rests on Arvind Verma's enterprise.

In the era of globalization, Arvind Verma is an ideal, for not only disabled people, but also for common industrialists.

Source: Vinod Kumar Mishra, Eminent Blind People of the World, Bookwise India, 2002

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