Leadership in troubled times

H M Nerurkar, the new chief operating officer (Steel), Tata Steel, is a backstage man in the real sense of the term. Not a public face of the company, Nerurkar was largely unknown till the announcement that he would assume the role of COO (Steel).

Many say that he would be stepping into T Mukherjee's (deputy managing director-steel) shoes. This only goes to show that there must be more to Nerurkar than meets the eye. After all, Mukherjee has been with Tata Steel for the last 36 years. Also, it is for the first time that Tata Steel has created the post of COO (Steel).

Insiders say Nerurkar would be doing exactly what Mukherjee is doing now. Mukherjee's tenure in Tata Steel would end this October when he turns 65, though he is likely to continue with the Tata Steel-Corus integration exercise.

Prior to assuming the role of COO (Steel), Nerurkar was vice-president (Kalinganagar project and technology). The Kalinganagar project was announced towards the end of November, 2004 and ran into serious trouble in early 2006. In fact, the genesis of all land acquisition problems started with that project.

But today the police firing in Kalinganagar, which killed 12 people, as the state administration bulldozed its way to construct the boundary wall for the project, is long forgotten; only Nandigram is alive. Moreover, of all the greenfield projects announced by Tata Steel, Kalinganagar will be the first to take off. Of course, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were announced a year later.

Clearly the project's come a long way and Nerurkar, it seems, played a key role in diffusing the fire. Around 70 per cent of the people affected by the project have moved. There is still some resistance but Nerurkar is confident that with support from the people, the first module would be onstream by mid-2010.

That was possible because Nerurkar put in place a dedicated team who spoke the land-losers' language to explain the benefits of the project. But first the team was briefed extensively so as to believe in the project themselves.

Not surprisingly, he is credited with having a multifaceted experience in project execution. As vice-president (technology), Nerurkar headed initiatives like ASPIRE, the vehicle for improvements in Tata Steel, as well as the theory of constraints (TOC) and total quality management (TQM).

Nerurkar has held various positions in Tata Steel including chief metallurgist, general manager (marketing), senior GM (supply chain) and vice-president (flat products). He is also on the board of TM International Logistics, Tata BlueScope Company, and Tata Ryerson.

He is also considered a people's person, a fact that is borne out not just in his handling of the Kalinganagar crisis. Company executives who know him say Nerurkar is steeped in the Tata Steel culture. Not surprising, considering he joined the company in 1971.

But in the same breath they say that he is affable and much 'more' approachable. Of course, that and being an out-an-out Tata Steel man may not be mutually exclusive.