Here's what kept corporate corridors abuzz this week

Celebrations for Shanghai

Last week, KV Kamath was given a grand farewell reception at the ICICI Bank HQ by none other than his protégé Chanda Kocchar, the bank’s current MD and CEO. Kamath’s entire A-team cutting across generations — Kalpana Morparia, Lalita Gupte, Shikha Sharma to Sonjoy Chatterjee and Kalpesh Kikani — was present sharing their memories of working with the legend. The 50-odd guests were mostly from the bank itself, with a handful of special invitees like SBI’s Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, Infy’s Narayana Murthy and GM Rao.

Filmi Harkaat

Talking about bankers … On a recent Delhi-Mumbai flight, we saw the crew of ABCD2 flying back after their promotional events at the Capital. A little bird tells us tinsel town’s bad boy Arjun Kapoor was pestering the SBI chairperson to swap seats so that he could sit next to his pals Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor. After a point, the lady — known for her no nonsense ways — gave up and found a seat in another row. But later when choreographer-turned-director Remo D’Souza told Kapoor who she was, he was seen apologising with folded hands. Some kids just don’t grow up. But even then they should know it doesn’t pay to roast the banker to every Indian.



Early Birds Get the Worm..

When the NDA government came to power at the Centre, corporate India’s access to the corridors of power came down. Yet, corporates still manage to strike occasionally. Otherwise, what can explain the letter of credit of about Rs900 crore for trade with Iran being used up much before even the circular was issued on the website of Exim Bank? The bank was so embarrassed that it didn’t even put up a circular announcing the new credit line, as it was used by corporates who seemed to have the information.



Honeymoon Trouble

Family support is crucial for the success of a startup, and few investors will quibble. But a growing trend in India’s startup industry has some investors distraught. No sooner do they back an early-stage venture, than single founders rush to tie the wedding knot. As one aggrieved investor confided to ET, “That’s okay, but long honeymoons and distractions from business are not for early-stage entrepreneurs.”

Excess Baggage

Any other airline would reward an employee who ensures maximising revenue, but not our national carrier — Air India. A senior cabinet minister, while flying out of New York was indignant when the airline’s ground staff highlighted excess baggage. The perceived slight was not brushed aside — the powerful minister brought it up with the aviation ministry and the employee’s job was at risk. However, better sense prevailed and the last we heard is that the employee still retains his job.