If it was not for the insistence of Anil Ambani, chairman, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Lalit Jalan, CEO and whole-time director, Reliance Infrastructure Limited, would have been happy living in home ground, Kolkata, running family-owned consumer durable or real estate business. More importantly, for Jalan, 52, it would have been a happy way to live his life ? with his parents, family and extended family ? like he did before stepping out for the first time to study at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, which led to other opportunities to swiftly race up the ladder of academics and career.

Jalan was introduced to Anil Ambani by friend Raj Salgaonkar (now Ambani?s brother-in-law) at the Wharton Business School. Though they were in different classes, they got along very well. Recalls Jalan, ?I did not know anything about the Ambanis then. That was my ignorance, I admit.? He hastens to add, ?But I took a liking to Anil, who Raj asked me to help around the campus.?

The duo picked up the threads of friendship when they both returned to India. ?I didn?t get a direct offer to join the company,? says Jalan. ?I am a Marwari and was raised to believe that working for someone else is not for me. I strongly believed in it,? he says laughing. Only to be torpedoed by the ?insistent? Ambani. ?Anil decided that I should be here and he can be very persuasive.?

?No was not an option. I agreed to join, but I made it known that I did not know petroleum or polyesters. I said the only area I could help with was finance. Anil?s reply was: ?We too did not know anything much when we started this business. But I am making you the head of it.? Almost immediately, cartons of books on polypropylene landed up at my house in Kolkata and a little later I showed up in Mumbai. I came to Mumbai in 1995 and have been here since then.?

With a net worth of Rs 11,690 crore, Reliance Energy has five verticals ? Reliance InfraVentures, the infrastructure arm; Reliance Infra Projects, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) arm executing large power projects; Power Distribution Business, owning 100% of Mumbai distribution and 51% of Orissa and Delhi distribution; Power Transmission Business; and Reliance Energy Trading.

Jalan has had a successful run, and in some projects he has achieved ?the impossible?. ?We were able to implement power distribution reforms in Delhi with success. Delhi had bad network, there was 55% power theft, poor quality of electricity and a demotivated staff. It was privatised in 2002 and I was sent there in 2005. It was a trial by fire. But turning it around was my biggest victory,? he says as a matter of fact.

He now looks forward to the completion of the Mumbai Metro project. ?The project posed problems because of the narrow roads in Mumbai. There were technical challenges, too. It took a long while to get permissions. The budget went overboard. Yet, I am hopeful that we will finish the project by September 2010.?

He has dreams for the company he heads. But Jalan refuses to talk in the first person narrative when he unravels them.?We think as a company we should be the largest power infrastructure player with the highest market shares. Power is the biggest part of infrastructure. We have seven big projects and two metro rail projects in Mumbai and Delhi. We are now keen to do airports. We have also bid for the Haji Ali sea link in Mumbai.?

He adds, ?We also do our bit for the climate. We are trying to move into wind and solar power. We are in the process of finalising four crematoria for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. We believe corporates must do their bit for society because the government can’t do it all.?

How does he view competition? ?Competition was always there and will continue.? Jalan does not pause as he speaks about competition, which he has experienced up close and first hand. ?Competition is necessary because it forces one to innovate and the company to come up with newer products and services. I have competed all my life and hence competition at work is nothing new to me. That is why I often say to people I know that they should involve children in sports. When you play a sport, you learn how to build a great team, select the best players and also realise that you can’t outsource them!?

He adds, ?For a company, competition helps build a better product, reduce costs and set up processes. I believe companies must start thinking that they are in competition even when there is none. They should have this element of fear that they can lose the business they have set up. Then, if competition comes, they are prepared.”

Though he has competed at every juncture, Jalan is used to success. It began way back in school, where he performed consistently well as a student. “You know how a typical child is. I was like that, doing well in studies.” And then went on to IIT, Kanpur. He appeared for his entrance exams, says Jalan, ?for no particular reason?. ?Writing the entrance exam wasn’t a big thing like it has become today. I did it because everyone around was applying for IIT. I did not enroll in any coaching classes.” Yet he topped the Eastern region and secured third rank at the all-India level.

Life at IIT was an ?eye-opener? for Jalan. He says the lessons he learnt there have stood him well in life. ?I got good grades at IIT, but there were so many brilliant students around. The pressure was enormous. Campus life at IIT Kanpur was very nice. The professors and teaching were outstanding.?

He adds, ?What one learns there is unique. Like humility, for example. The self- importance that some of the students may have experienced in their schools or villages pales into insignificance in the face of the sheer brilliance at an IIT. Yet students were not one-dimensional. Some of them had amazing skills and talents, which created a great bonding. The academic schedule was very difficult and it was a continuous process. It was like going from fire to fire. I made some outstanding friends there. Of the 200-odd batch mates, I remember 100 of them even today. Isn’t that remarkable??

Jalan has fond memories also of his life spent abroad as a student. “I had never been abroad until I went to Wharton. As a 22-year-old, I flew for the first time and decided to stay off the campus as it was cheaper. To call one?s professor by his/her first name, to see students in half pants, everyone frank and casual with each other and even with the teaching faculty was an awesome experience. It broadened my outlook even further.?

The only time in the conversation that Jalan’s voice spills over with excitement is when he talks about his days at IIT and incidents connected with it. ?During the 25th year reunion in 2005, most of ex-IITians came together. Over half of my class is in the USA, yet they made it for the reunion and we had a great time. Success at IIT is a tradition.?

He adds, ?When Bill Gates came for the inauguration of the first pan IIT ceremony in California in January 2003, 15 achievers were mentioned. I was one of them and featured for having achieved the fastest billion-dollar business. I wasn’t present on the occasion, but when a friend informed me, I could not believe it.?

Jalan says that he has come to realise that one has to be humble to be successful. ?Knowledge is of immense value, but it is important to put people at ease, to connect with people and to treat every one as an individual. I believe, whatever one does, one must not do it for its intrinsic value.?

Relaxation for Jalan is to be with his family. ?For a while, my sons, Akshay and Varun, were studying abroad. From being raised in a joint family to a phase where my family got even more nuclear with only my wife and I without our children was a huge shift. I enjoy being with my family and going out for vacations, though it has been a while since we did that.? His wife Anita is a fashion designer.

Reading? He laughs. ?I work for 6.5 days a week and travel a lot. So the books I read are economic magazines.? He jogs his memory to recall the last good book he has read. ?I liked Chetan Bhagat?s Five Point Someone. It brought back memories of my time at IIT.?

What does he look forward to when he retires from work? ?I had thought after five years in Mumbai, I would retire and live on a farm. But I enjoy my work a lot and now the thought does not occur to me as often.?

In keeping with the IIT tradition of excelling at more than just studies, Jalan wants to do more than just work successfully. ?I am very happy and want to do much more. I have worked so far for myself and now want to work for the country. I would like to see India become a very big country.? He adds, ?I like teaching. I have taught undergraduate students as part of my scholarship in the US. That was a good experience. I don’t get enough time to do that in India, though IIM Bangalore has asked me to speak on a course in infrastructure for a semester.?

Success has always followed him like a shadow, be it in academics or at work. ?Ah, that,? says Jalan, with a shrug, ?some people just get lucky.?

Fact file

•Lalit Jalan was appointed whole-time director of Reliance Infrastructure on April 25, 2007

• He joined Reliance Industries Limited as CEO of polypropylene business division in 1995

• He was the youngest CEO at Reliance

• He did his MBA from Wharton School, and MS in computer science from Moore School, University of Pennsylvania

• He is B Tech from IIT Kanpur