India Inc tales: IndiGo founder's BlackBerry love; movie night for Mr & Mrs Birla; Coronavirus grounds Sequoia India meet
While some bosses chilled at the movies, others were fighting a deadly virus!
By ET Bureau | Updated:
Agencies
While Rahul Bhatia (left) still can’t get over his love for BlackBerry phones, Kumar Mangalam Birla (right) was spotted on a rather ‘humble’ visit to a multiplex.
ET’s weekly roundup of the wackiest whispers and murmurs in corporate corridors & policy parlours.
5G Cyber Watch Telecom and tech hotshots will soon brainstorm on emerging cyber security challenges that consumers will need to grapple with once 5G arrives in India and washing machines, refrigerators, TVs, home security systems and other household devices plug into the broadband network. Top officials from the IT and telecom ministries are also likely to pitch in at the global consumer tech conclave scheduled to be held in Delhi later this month. Learning from a recent 5G/ IoT (internet of things) consumer conclave in Milan are likely to be centre stage and takeaways from the India session will be analysed at the next forum in Singapore.
SBI Spread
State Bank of India executives are being recruited to head several financial institutions, raising questions such as whether the new norm in appointments is getting ‘outsiders’ at the cost of loyal ‘insiders’. The latest one is likely to be the Clearing Corporation of India (CCI), which oversees transaction settlements. It’s being said that a deputy managing director of India’s biggest state-owned lender is likely to be the next managing director of CCI. It’s even being said that he trumped a top executive to get the job.
BlackBerry Holdout For Rahul Bhatia (right), using a BlackBerry phone is not just a matter of convenience or security, it also holds sentimental value. IndiGo co founder Rahul Bhatia is one of the few people who still use a BlackBerry phone, brushing off all appeals to upgrade to an iPhone. For Bhatia, using a BlackBerry phone is not just a matter of convenience or security, it also holds sentimental value. The founders of BlackBerry were his classmates when he studied in Canada.
Squeeze Fit It was refreshing to see Birla without bodyguards and just his wife and a family friend at a midtown multiplex. His telecom business is feeling the squeeze but Kumar Mangalam Birla had no idea — no pun intended — about the crush at the movies. It was refreshing to see him without bodyguards and just his wife and a family friend at a midtown multiplex. But after the show, the elevator didn’t show up for a long time and when it finally did arrive, a bunch of raucous revellers barged their way in. Luckily, all concerned tolerated a rather suffocating experience even if it meant holding up your mobile for the fear of it getting lost.
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Talking Movies Ramnath has been a champion backer of PVR’s Ajay Bijli right from her ICICI Venture days and subsequently at Multiples, her PE shop. Talking about the movies, Renuka Ramnath said she had stopped going to them as often she used to! Every time she goes to a PVR, she’s busy observing footfalls and F&B sales instead of soaking in the experience. Why? Ramnath has been a champion backer of PVR’s Ajay Bijli right from her ICICI Venture days and subsequently at Multiples, her PE shop. But that’s not all of it — she also prefers not to go to an Inox multiplex as it’s a rival.
Virus Risk Silicon Valley’s marquee venture capital fund Sequoia Capital has cancelled its annual global limited partners (LPs) meeting, which was to be held for the first time in India next month, due to the coronavirus outbreak. LPs are the sponsors of a fund and constitute university endowments and pensions funds among others. The global meeting of Sequoia LPs, which has over the years been held in the US and China, was to take place in New Delhi. India has emerged as a high-return market for Sequoia over the past year with partial exits from Oyo, Byju’s and Pine Labs.
Golden Era Tanya Dubash - Chief Brand officer - Godrej Industries. Old money is still royalty and the Godrej clan proved it yet again this weekend. Daughter Tanya flew 180 of her friends to Jaisalmer to bring in hubby Arvind Dubash’s 50th birthday in grand style. A GoAir flight was chartered courtesy the Wadia family and guests from all over the world — business and Bollywood blue blood, politics, glamour and finance. From Supriya Sule to Anu Mahtani and hubby Sanjay Hinduja, from Gauri Khan and K-Jo and Rahul Khanna, from Pinky and Sanjay Reddy to Sandeep Khosla, everyone got a taste of regal decadence by the desert.
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Lean On We have been writing at length about the succession at one of India’s top financial institutions that is well under way. It is tough to get someone to fill in the incumbent’s shoes at a $100-billion market cap company and maintain that legacy. We are told the search firm is not finding it easy. But we also hear that a leading foreign institution apparently has lent its support to an individual and has actually written to the board suggesting that he should be seriously considered. Perfect choice we think, just that the particular, soft-spoken banker, till recently the obvious choice, was turned down by the current boss himself. Rarely do we see an investor lean in like this in such a high-stakes game but guess that’s exactly the reason why.
Hoochie Coochie Men Anand Mahindra has been insisting that in its 10th year, people should pay for the music they listen to.
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What’s with the finance guys and blues? We thought they were all into marathons till we saw Reliance’s Alok Agarwal, Ajay Srinivasan of Aditya Birla Financial Services and B Anand of Nayara Energy enjoying some mean riffs at a two-day long music festival. Sign of the times maybe but on a serious note who wouldn’t want to soak in some cool Chicago boogie woogie. Interestingly, host Anand Mahindra has been insisting that in its 10th year, people should pay for the music they listen to and ensured that the number of free passes was reduced drastically. It worked. Turned out to be a full house on both days.
A Golfing Story The conservative golf club circuit got a rude shock. Turns out after tee-ing off a patron got hold of some company. But the gentleman changed his mind. Upon which the companion demanded full compensation and did so at the club reception area. Naturally everyone is outraged especially since the concerned member’s wife, a pucca professional, is well loved by all. Last heard, the club officials are meeting to take strict disciplinary action, possibly even the boot since this is not the first time such antics have taken place.
House Hunting? Even though it’s on the verge of exiting real estate almost entirely, it was intriguing to see Gagan Banga of Indiabulls at the Belvedere this week hobnobbing with an equally secretive investor group from North America that has taken big bold bets in Indian office spaces and infrastructure. We could not help but notice that it was not a casual catch up over cappuccino since the discussions progressed to a private meeting room. We wonder if something big is cooking on its bad loan front? That’s something worth keeping a tab on for sure.
India Inc Gets Budget-Ready; Ronnie Screwvala, Cleartrip Boss, Spykar Lifestyle CEO Share Wishlist
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It's that time of the year when all eyes are on the Finance Minister. Dalal Street, India Inc, tax-paying individuals, consumers, traders - almost everyone is looking at Nirmala Sitharaman with hope. This Budget, that comes in the wake of a slowdown, and muted consumer spending, is the first one that's being presented by the Narendra Modi government after storming back to power in the Lok Sabha elections last year.
As the countdown begins, here's a look at what India Inc has on their wishlist from Ms Sitharaman this time.
It's that time of the year when all eyes are on the Finance Minister. Dalal Street, India Inc, tax-paying individuals, consumers, traders - almost everyone is looking at Nirmala Sitharaman with hope...
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This Budget has to herald the clear road map towards $5 trillion & 3rd largest economy in the world or else we are out of time. The Budget in India always needs to have a strong balance of populist and development of rural India but this time it needs to focus on the other half that can propel India. It is going to be about taking very hard calls.
Three initiatives (amongst many others) in the Budget that can really move the needle are: First, a clear plan for the Government to be out of the business of things, privatisation of most sectors has to get to 10x of present plan. This would lead to massive monetisation for the exchequer but also bring about massive efficiency into large sectors. The Government needs to think big and therefore look to privatise and exit profit-making businesses too and not just the loss-making ones. A one-time movement on this can change the pace and scale of the economy and hurtle us towards $5 trillion goal.
Secondly, one sector that would move the needle for GDP amongst all others - it would be for us to make a blueprint to take tourism to 10x of its present levels in the next 5 years. It can be the largest employer for the country, bring in more foreign exchange than the 35 million migrant Indians repatriating money back home and can be a game changer for India’s perception in the world. The blueprint has to be a big one from infrastructure that allows private sector to create best places to stay and travel. We already have the best sites in the world but, alas, they are poorly maintained and even more poorly marketed.
Lastly, we need to be the entrepreneurial capital of the world in the 2020 decade: a clear goal where we need to simplify doing business, making, starting and running a corporate in India easier than anywhere in the world. We cannot celebrate improving 20 positions of ranking in the ease of doing business and get to 100th! Need to move straight to the top 10 nations where it’s easy to do business. Need to open up all sectors with a stop to the constant regulatory changes that makes it most difficult to build anything of scale in India for any entrepreneur. If we can create half a million entrepreneurs a year that creates 10 new jobs each, no one can stop India’s path to be in the top three economies of the world.
As I said, it’s time to take hard calls.
This Budget has to herald the clear road map towards $5 trillion & 3rd largest economy in the world or else we are out of time. The Budget in India always needs to have a strong balance of populist a..
Read More
Since the past decade, India has established itself as one of the fastest-growing travel markets across the globe. We, as a nation, are poised to become the third-largest market by 2025 given the secular growth trends. It is essential to ensure that infrastructural inadequacies do not fetter the growth of the industry. The government should make provisions for boosting the domestic infrastructure towards global benchmarks in the upcoming Budget.
We are also hopeful that the Government will take cognisance and resolve challenges for the aviation industry which has already seen a tough year in 2019. For one, out of all the stakeholders in the aviation ecosystem, airlines operate with the most paper-thin margins. This, coupled with TCS (Tax collection at source), ends up hampering the working capital of airlines, giving rise to numerous operational difficulties. These obstacles are not only affecting the stakeholders and service providers, but the consumers as well. We are optimistic that the Government will continue to be open-minded and maintain the impetus of its past initiatives while bringing necessary reformations to further enable the travel sector.
Since the past decade, India has established itself as one of the fastest-growing travel markets across the globe. We, as a nation, are poised to become the third-largest market by 2025 given the sec..
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The clothing and lifestyle industry thrives on sentiments and the same are at its lowest as we speak. We expect in all earnest that the Government will make certain announcements in the Budget which can spur demand by placing more disposable income in the hands of the consumers. Our economy has a large consumer base and once the momentum is built, there should be no stopping us.
The clothing and lifestyle industry thrives on sentiments and the same are at its lowest as we speak. We expect in all earnest that the Government will make certain announcements in the Budget whic..
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The current rate of 5% at which the Indian economy is reeling is a major concern. The two engines for growth of the economy are consumption and investment. I believe the thrust of the Government should be directed towards the revival of these two pillars - consumption and investment - in capital projects. Improvement in sentiments and kick-starting the private capex will help in making India a favourable investment destination.
The current rate of 5% at which the Indian economy is reeling is a major concern. The two engines for growth of the economy are consumption and investment. I believe the thrust of the Government shou..
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There should be increased outlay for the development of priority sports in Olympic disciplines. The sporting community could do with a GST reduction in sports equipment and infrastructure. The GST on the sale of tickets for sporting activities is currently at 28 per cent, and a reduction will make sporting events affordable and boost audience participation. There should also be institutional measures to incentivise public-private partnerships in sport infrastructure.
There should be increased outlay for the development of priority sports in Olympic disciplines. The sporting community could do with a GST reduction in sports equipment and infrastructure. The GST on..
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The Indian IT sector provides significant opportunities for growth. The government can further incentivise organisations creating software intellectual property through tax exemption on IT exports. We expect that the Government would bring in more business-friendly policies and take steps to reduce regulatory compliance, thereby creating a holistic environment for the ease of doing business.
As data security, privacy and compliance become increasingly critical, the Government should encourage the private sector to set up data centres in the country. It should also continue its thrust towards various initiatives, namely Digital India, Skill India, Make in India and emphasise on technologies that encourage digitisation and creation of rural e-infrastructure.
Sustaining the global competitiveness of the Indian IT sector will require increased Government investments in skill development for new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, robotics, and blockchain. Reintroducing the SEZ scheme and streamlining the current SEZ processes will give the required boost to the IT industry and provide a more conducive business environment. The labour laws governing the IT sector also require streamlining owing to its unique requirements.
The Indian IT sector provides significant opportunities for growth. The government can further incentivise organisations creating software intellectual property through tax exemption on IT exports. W..
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The Digital India initiative began well and our economy has benefited from the adoption of technology innovation. India is the second most-digitally connected nation in the world and has the third largest start-up ecosystem. We believe that Budget 2020-21 will place greater focus on digital literacy to increase the penetration of smartphones/internet in smaller towns and rural areas.
We hope the Budget includes a stimulus policy to incentivise greater investments in local research; development in areas such as education/health technologies with greater adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and blockchain to accelerate the Government’s vision of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025. We are optimistic about India’s tremendous growth potential and an inclusive economy powered by digital investments, innovations and entrepreneurship.
The Digital India initiative began well and our economy has benefited from the adoption of technology innovation. India is the second most-digitally connected nation in the world and has the third la..
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Our focus should be on the youth, which means that the Budget should be allocated towards education, creating jobs and sustainable start-ups. With growing automation/AI influence, the country needs to be prepared for loss or transformation of human-centric jobs. And we need to be prepared for jobs of the future. Keeping this in mind, Budget 2020 must focus on skill upgradation of the youth to meet the opportunities in future professions and sectors like alternate energy, healthcare, creative industries and the like.
We also need to focus on mental health. The Budget must allocate funds for programs to address this issue at the earliest. We are hopeful that Budget for 2020 is youth-centric, for the future rests on the shoulders of the youth.
Our focus should be on the youth, which means that the Budget should be allocated towards education, creating jobs and sustainable start-ups. With growing automation/AI influence, the country needs t..
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The Budget should have incentives for setting up hotels in far-flung areas. India has a lot of foreign and domestic tourist potential beyond the well-known destinations. However, these locations lack basic tourism infrastructure including good hotels. The Budget should promote that. I also want the Government to extend tax benefits and develop new schemes to promote inbound tourism which was not evident in the previous year.
The Budget should have incentives for setting up hotels in far-flung areas. India has a lot of foreign and domestic tourist potential beyond the well-known destinations. However, these locations lack..
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