Odisha: An IITian Who Quit Fatty Job to Serve and Empower Grassroots People

Bhubaneswar: For Deepak Kumar Mallick of Remuna in Odisha’s Balasore district, it has been an incredible journey, indeed. Hailing from a humble background and fighting all possible odds that came his way, he never felt exhausted and intimidated. He pursued his goal with all seriousness and sincerity to become a good technocrat as well as human being to serve the people of his native state and the country. His dream came true when he entered the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Khargapur in 2002 to study civil engineering.

As he was an exceptional talent, Deepak found many corporate houses, including multinational companies (MNCs), vying to hire him after he completed his degree course in 2006. He had a fair stint of six years in different corporate houses, including Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) and IL&FS, before he left that world to found his own firm that he named IDAX which today serves a huge list of clientele like L&T, TATA Group, Adani, Aditya Birla Group, Reliance, Vedanta Group, NTPC, Shapoorji, IOCL, ACME, Mercedes Benz, ABB Limited, Nissin Food, Solairedirect, Harsco, Jurong, AECOM, Egis, SMS Siemag and Wabag.

Many, including family members and relatives of Deepak had initially reservations over his quitting of fatty corporate job. But he was quite focussed on his mission.

“I worked for six years for various large corporate houses and garnered immense experience with working on both national and international agencies-funded projects. However, all along, I nourished a desire to set up my own engineering consultancy firm to generate jobs for people in my own state and country. The vision of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik to make Odisha number one in industrialisation and employment generation, also inspired me to come and work for the people of the state. When the ‘Startup’ concept was not born, I took a risk in 2011 and founded my own organisation named IDAX which has today got the recognition of the country’s first generation Startup entity,” says Mallick.

Deepak has generated direct and indirect employment for nearly one thousand people and his volume of his business has flourished into crores of rupees. Deepak’s team consists of geotechnical engineers, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, environmental engineers, scientists, structural designers and architects who provide consultancy services states like West Bengal, Manipur, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra, Telangana and Tamil-Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

As he grows in his business, Deepak has not forgotten his rustic roots. He spends a fair amount of time among villagers in the Remuna area. He moves from village to village, feeds destitute children and elderly people hailing from poor financial backgrounds.

“I grew up in an area which is prone to various natural calamities like floods and cyclones. I have seen people, most of whom are dependent on agriculture for survival, struggling to lead a decent life. These people need handholding support for their socio-economic development. Besides linking them to the welfare and economic empowerment initiatives of the state and Union government, I have been trying to ensure that they learn and acquire new skills that will enable them to achieve faster growth,” says Mallick, adding, the recognition of his philanthropic work by state government agencies and many other reputed organisations, has always prompted to devote more time for the people living at the grassroots.