ClariTea Chat with Parna Ghosh, Group CIO of Uno Minda

Timestamp Summary of the session -

00:00 Purpose of ClariTea Chat video.

02:00 Welcome to ClariTea Chat & Parna’s Introduction.

05:00 Parna shared a moment that felt like a joke—suddenly moved from tech to supermarket operations. But it turned into a masterclass in leadership, systems thinking, and customer-centric execution.

06:45 Audience Engagement.

07:30 Parna shared his career journey from dropout to digital leader—Testament to the power of resilience and relentless learning.

25:00 Shared rich & specific learnings—from formal coaching in entrepreneurship to informal, hands-on jump into CRM and CIO roles.

36:30 A masterclass in turning fear into fuel—Parna shares case studies on CRM rollouts, ISO 27001 implementations, digital transformations, and much more.

40:00 From IoT in Italy to digital showrooms in the US, Parna shares case studies and hacks for thriving in global, diverse teams.

44:00 He flipped IT from cost center to profit center—boosting showroom conversions with AR/VR, monetizing service desk, and driving success with CRM, S/4HANA, Office 365, and smart factories.

56:00 Audience (Satya) sparked curiosity on hiring beyond IIT/NIT - Discussed real stories—a loader turned PPC head, a school dropout turned top coder—Learning-first culture uncovers exceptional hidden talent.

59:00 Audience (Udit) question on navigating power centers in Indian enterprises sparked insights on people-first, channeling arrogance into excellence, and identifying hidden stars.

1:04:00 Audience (Karthik) asked how remote service desks were handled post-pandemic. A powerful story of how 15 MS Teams users jumped to 5,000 in just 3 days—Forced digital transformation, zero training, and platform-led agility.

1:05:30 Audience (Deepak) asked about planning vs. execution time split. Contrasted India’s 40:60 reality with Japan’s 80:20 ideal—Honda’s flawless launch record as a gold standard for disciplined planning.

1:08:30 Audience (Deepak) asked why Indian execution is less organized—Decoded the cultural roots—unpredictability vs. precision— example of a Japanese advisor refusing to accept production flexibility as a concept.

1:10:30 Rapid Fire Round

1:15:30 Reverse question: You've led Tata Motors' transformation, managed CRM, IT, and transitioned to entrepreneurship—how did you navigate these challenging shifts in your career? — An inspiring leap-of-faith with zero background, yet bold moves and coaching turned these forays into success.

1:19:10 Session Summary

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Welcome to this week's ClariTea Chat with Parna Ghosh, Group CIO, Uno Minda.

Parna, born in Kolkata, left college amidst student politics, started his career as an office executive, but later learned computing and earned a degree. He led IT at KB Cells, managed diverse roles, gained pan-India exposure at Merino, completed his MSc, and drove IT, SAP, and SOX implementations at Pricol and TACO.

Moving to Honda Motorcycles and Scooters (HMSI), Parna led major digital initiatives—employee, sales, and service portals; SAP and Siebel rollouts; and the setup of 4 factories. At CNH, he handled global IT, traveled across continents, and ran the APAC Service Desk with a profit-center approach. The multilingual service desk achieved breakeven in 6 months. He launched AR/VR-enabled digital showrooms and IoT-linked harvesters.

At Uno Minda, he unified IT across 115 sites, enabling business scaling up from ₹4,500 Cr to ₹20,000 Cr in 8 years.

Parna mastered outsourcing, shifting IT's focus to growth. He led SAP S/4HANA, shifted to cloud and smart factories, built cybersecurity resilience, earned global certifications, and boosted agility, cost-efficiency, and digital maturity across Uno Minda’s operations.

His journey has been driven by continuous learning, a focus on business value, innovation, and creating business resilience with cybersecurity.

Our rich discussion will cover -

• From College Dropout to Lifelong Learner Leader
• Learning Multicultural Working—India & Global
• Driving Business Impact with IT as a Profit Centre
• Harmonising and Transforming IT for a Fast-Growing Group
• Transforming Stakeholder Experiences with Data Culture
• Cybersecurity Excellence

He brings a unique and fresh business perspective to the ClariTea Chat agenda of finding success and value with technology. During our chat, you can ask him business-focused questions about your technology challenges.

Get ready for an exciting chat with Parna! His experiences and insights offer valuable lessons on blending strategy & innovation. I am excited to host him Live this coming Saturday.

Please participate and ask your questions in this ClariTea Chat with Parna. Join us this Saturday, 19th Apr, 5 PM IST.

Be ready with your cup of tea, of course.