Suits & sayings: Bi-weekly roundup of the wackiest whispers in corporate corridors & policy parlours

ET’s bi-weekly roundup of the wackiest whispers and murmurs in corporate corridors & policy parlours
That CII Meeting

For this nice little story we are about to tell we in ET can take some credit. You see, on December 11 last year, we had frontpaged the news that India Inc heavyweights were grumbling a little at a closed door CII meeting about what they saw as lack of policy fireworks by the Modi Sarkar.

Here’s the link to that news story: Initial euphoria wanes, India Inc worried about Modi government's 'lack of boldness'

That story created, as we journos say, a bit of a buzz. Apparently, it’s still buzzing a bit. This Monday, January 5, there was a little do of the Harvard Business School India Club in Mumbai. And one attendee, a grand old member of India Inc, told the audience that after ET’s story on the closed door CII meeting, some India Inc members who had rather passionately despaired about policy ‘inaction’ got calls from the PMO, and they were politely asked why they were so disappointed with the sarkar. Hmm

Suits Starting Up

At this rate, will brick and mortar companies have any senior talent left? Joining the long line of senior execs who are trying their hand at the start-up game is the HR top boss of Tata group, N S Rajan. We hear Rajan, one of the best networked suits in the country, is teaming up with a close friend to invest in a start-up that will provide technological solutions to talent search. Given Rajan’s contacts, this startup should have a good start.

Loan Yoga

The power of yoga. At the bankers’ Gyan Sangam held in Pune earlier this month, Hasmukh Adhia, GoI’s financial services secretary, held a yoga session. Attendance was voluntary, but the hall was packed. Adhia, a yoga expert, kept things basic. But bankers piled him with questions on what kind of asanas best relieve stress. Now that’s an interesting one – which yoga posture is best for you if your balance sheet is full of bad loans?

Eyeing I-Bankers

New Year brings many things, including poaching of talent in I-banks. What happens is that bonuses are announced and so are targets for the year. The combination of two makes for good reasons to either move or to be headhunted. We hear ace I-banker Vedika Bhandarkar, who left global investment bank Credit Suisse, is set to join Axis Bank. Makes sense, since Nilesh Shah, who was Axis Bank’s I-banking czar, is set to become the boss of Kotak Mahindra asset management.