“Technology is our middle name”

As a passionate engineer, he considers himself fortunate to be leading a technology company at a time when digital advancement is transforming everyday lives. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and University of California, Berkeley, he completed his PhD in Materials Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA before joining Sterlite Technologies Limited (STL) in 1995. The winner of Voice&Data Pathbreaker of the Year Award for 2019 and STL CEO Dr. Anand Agarwal shares his views with As a passionate engineer, he considers himself fortunate to be leading a technology company at a time when digital advancement is transforming everyday lives. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and University of California, Berkeley, he completed his PhD in Materials Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA before joining Sterlite Technologies Limited (STL) in 1995. The winner of Voice&Data Pathbreaker of the Year Award for 2019 and STL CEO Dr. Anand Agarwal shares his views with Shubhendu Parth on the company’s journey, new business opportunities and Make in India. Excerpts: on the company’s journey, new business opportunities and Make in India. Excerpts:

- Shubhendu Parth

V&D: STL has covered a very long ground—from being an optical communication products company to becoming a data network solutions provider. How would you describe this journey and will you follow a different growth path if you are to repeat the success again?

Anand Agarwal (AA): STL has been a dynamic company at every step of the way. When the world was thinking of information highways, we were leading with optical communications. Now that the whole world is likely to get networked and everything is becoming data, we are driving ourselves to be the leading data network innovator of the world. This has been and continues to be a fabulous and exciting journey for me. I am blessed to have been part of and architecting major portions of this journey.