It’s a case of the head hunter ending up hunted. Nripjit Singh Chawla, high-profile head of international search firm Korn/Ferry’s India operations was on a routine assignment — looking for a head for the Max group’s health venture. Little did he know that he himself would land the job. Ask him and all he will say about the switch is: I liked his (Analjit Singh’s) dream.”

It’s a bit of a paradigm shift, but not for a man like Chawla, who has a fairly chequered career graph. In his new assignment, Chawla will be taking care of Max India’s foray into the health business. The Max Group has decided to invest a large chunk of over Rs. 500 crore from the sale of its telecom business in health.

Chawla’s brief is to set up a comprehensive healthcare services’ company with the latest technology. “We are dear that we are not here for charity but profit,” says he. The company will focus on the discerning customers with an ability to pay. Reluctant to divulge his strategy all he says is that the company plans to build super-speciality hospitals in the country. To begin with, Delhi will see one such super-speciality hospital in 12-18 months.

The choice of place, and the specialisation will be determined by the demographic profile of the place. “The numbers should justify our investments,” says Chawla.

He is working with a core team of 10 to 12 people to finalise his plans. For support, the company has tied up with Harvard Medical International (HMI). HMI runs 17 hospitals in the Boston area and some of them have been adjudged the best in their areas of specialisation in the US. It is here that Max hopes to find an edge. “There are good corporate hospitals In India but none of them have super-specialities,” says Chawla.

The company is supposed to be considering neurology and paediatrics as probable areas. It intends tying up with corporates, insurance companies and government bodies for its hospitals. There are plans to enter health insurance, as and when the policies crystallise.

If medicine is a far cry from search, this is not the first time that Chawla has done this. He joined Korn/Ferry after spending 20 years with ITC Hotels. How does Chawla manage? “In fact I have never planned my career. My career moves have been dictated by the circumstances,” says he. An IIM-C graduate, he joined ITDC, his first job, for nationalistic reasons. But that fervour did not last for long.

His marriage and financial concerns made him move to ITC Hotels. Besides taking care of marketing and personnel, he was part of the core team which started the international business division.

The shift to Korn/Ferry came out of the blue. “I got a call from the UK asking if I would be interested in heading Korn/Ferry. Frankly speaking, I had not even heard of the company,” he remembers. They then met and he accepted the offer. It helped that the position was based in Delhi, where his family is, and not in Mumbai where he was then working.

How easy is it to make such career moves? “Working on the Max assignment, I knew what the job was. I also had an opportunity to work closely with Analjit. It helped me take the decision.” Still, it’s a transition, and Chawla is aware of that. Medical journals have replaced Business Week on his desk.

“The scale of operations and investments are just no comparison,” he says. Korn/Ferry was a small set up, where Chawla set up the Indian operations from scratch. Max Is a well established company with a lot of functional specialisation. But he believes that both are highly personalised services businesses, and hence will require a similar approach.

This article originally appeared in Economic Times - 17 September 1999