Knowledge can never become obsolete if an individual develops a habit of reading voraciously. And when you meet Mr. Devanshu Bhatia, he makes you believe in that philosophy more than ever. He has read autobiographies of almost all successful people and reading remains his most admired activity. Mr. Bhatia has a repertoire of reading depth that reflects in his in-depth knowledge about his domain of e-commerce and also life in general. Today he is at the helm of international E-commerce at Indiatimes. His take on things is simple yet pretty strong which has helped him grow heaps in this world of the internet.
Mr. Bhatia completed his schooling in the year 1999 and being fully aware that dotcom boom is at its peak, he opted for BCA studies. “But, subsequently, I realized that I was not really up for Software Engineering”. As MBA at that time was coming into the limelight, Mr. Bhatia applied to institutes. He was selected at NMIMS but since he wanted to remain in Delhi, he opted for IIPM. “I was lucky enough to be in the top 10 per cent of students in both attendance and academics as a result of which I was able to get a good placement for myself ”, he adds. Maruti Udyog Ltd. was the company where he pursued his internship in which he handled the repositioning of Maruti Versa and got to travel across India. His work was highly appreciated and he got an offer to join Maruti on a full time basis. Mr. Bhatia quickly reminds us that Info Edge Ltd. (now naukri.com) visited the IIPM campus around the same time. “I also sat for placement processes of Berger Paints, HUL, and FICCI”, he adds with a smile. Mr. Bhatia loved the offer and work proposal from naukri.com and decided to join them in 2004. “I chose naukri.com because I knew the internet would be the business of the future and hence this industry was exciting as well as interesting”, he exults. Mr. Bhatia managed corporate communications and was instrumental in the creation and execution of the ‘Hari Saadu’ TVC that was widely acclaimed. And for readers, if you visit the jeevansaathi.com TVC on You Tube, you will find a picture of Mr. Bhatia in the sequence where the girl (actress/ model Anjana Sukhani) scrolls through the jeevansathi website to look for her match.Looking back at the career he chose, Mr. Bhatia adds, “I took a leap into a lake (Internet Industry) from an ocean (MBA)”. Coming to his current organisation Indiatimes.com, he explains that it is the online arm of the renowned Bennett & Coleman Group which also publishes leading news papers like The Times Of India & Economic Times. “Indiatimes is the electronic media platform for all those who want to check news, stocks, bollywood events”. An integral part of their business is online shopping which is technically better known as e-commerce. Indiatimes, he reminds us, are the veterans of e-commerce in Indian market. “Today, there are many successful e-commerce organisations operating, like Flipkart, e-bay, myntra etc.” His primary role here is to look after the international wing of their e-commerce business. This means that if anyone overseas wants to purchase a handicraft or a painting, it is his domain expertise. Mr Bhatia firmly believes that e-commerce in India will keep growing at a rapid pace. “There is a downward trend for print media vis-a -vis electronic media in the west and that is now evident in the Indian marke”. This is however more for people who are internet savvy. Mr. Bhatia points out that almost 12 per cent of all international retail happens through e-commerce and companies are spending huge amounts of money to leverage their brand resonance which is clear by the growing advertisements of e-commerce based companies like snapdeal, deals&u, express.com, fashion&you, and many more. Shedding light on how social media can be used for e-commerce, Mr. Bhatia opines that rather than opting to compete with social media giants like Facebook or Twitter, it is a better option to use them as an interface to build your brand. “Indiatimes is using every angle of Facebook to leverage its brand image”. He also feels that due to the viral nature of social media, it is a great tool to spread brand awareness.
For MBA enthusiasts, Mr. Bhatia is frank to accept that MBA does not teach ‘common sense’. That, one has to inculcate on their own. MBA can impart management concepts or theories. He adds, “Thinking outside the box and being yourself without pretending are things that are imperative”. He explains how the nature of the internet industry is a hybrid of corporate and technology. It is an industry where at one level, you meet clients where you have to follow formal dressing and high quality communication, and, on the other hand you interact with back end teams who are technicians with whom you have to communicate in a language they understand. “This industry is not about sitting on a chair and sending e-mails the whole day”, he adds with a touch of humour.
Mr. Bhatia handles a team of seven at Indiatimes and follows the principle of transparency as a leader. “My funda is to lead them in the right place and know their qualities well”, he asserts. Speaking on business leaders, his vivid reading habit ensures that he does not have one particular favourite and admires each and every leader from Steve Jobs to Nelson Mandela. Finally, getting to his personal life, he exults that for a healthy life, one has to maintain a work-life balance. Mr. Bhatia loves to get home a tad early on Fridays and then spend time with his wife Ms. Nitya Bhatia who is employed with American Express. Cult wishes him a sanguine life full of quality time.
