Tata- The finest entrepreneur India has produced!!

Being a finance enthusiast and now that I am pursuing my Masters in Business Administration, reading about the corporate world is but natural.  Reading pink papers gave me more thrill than going through sports other than cricket since a very young age.  Even though I consider the Ambanis as my favourite, one of the captains of India Inc who I consider in high regards is Ratan Tata who completes 76 today.  Its been 1 year since he demitted office from Bombay House but he is heard more than his successor.  Some reports even suggest that he has been working even harder on his personal interests now that he no longer has to run the array of companies under the Tata fold.

Born on the same day as Dhirubhai Ambani, the two people are by far the best to take the country on the global business map.  But their working styles were poles apart.  While Dhirubhai Ambani was an excellent "environment manager", Tata played with utmost honesty even if it meant losing an opportunity.  The opportunity loss was huge when he refused to bribe the Aviation Minister to enter in the late 90s.  But then aviation was in his blood.  He co-piloted a Boeing fighter a couple of years ago and now has piloted not one but two JVs to start an LCC with Air Asia and a full service carrier with Singapore Airlines.  Both are expected to create ripples in the industry with their arrival.  Its sheer conviction that distinguishes him from the rest.

Having studied architecture with structural engineering and later at Harvard he had all the ingredients to make a successful entrepreneur.  The Tata group had sales of roughly $5bn in 1991 when he became chairman and India was just freeing from the shackles of licence raj.  What more would a CMD want? He had loads of cash for expansion and the timing couldn't be right.  But he had to go through an ugly spat with the mighty Russi Mody.  In his fight he showed that though he was silent and not the original choice he would have the last word.  In his quest to unify the loosely bound Tata group and change its image from a construction and truck company to a conglomerate he also lost Ajit Kerkar and Darbari Seth.  But he was not the one to give into others wishes.  He had a vision for the group and he achieved it.  It was his dream to expand into telecom and others.  Immediately after assuming the chairmanship he cut costs, introduced VRS and turned around Telco.  He was an expert at it.

By his own admission he loves cars.  And there have been a number of instances when it has been displayed. The Indica was his creation and so was Nano.  While the former was a success, the second failed.  But even then he did not shy away from accepting the mistake of marketing Nano wrongly.  He always thought for the greater good of the people which led to creation of products like Nano and the Swach purifier.  It is this selfless thinking that makes him such an admirable person the world over.  His decisions are more from gut and less from business sense.  He takes decisions and then makes them right as he puts it.

It was his ambition to grow the Tata group and for that he did not rely on organic growth alone.  He took some bold decisions for inorganic growth.  The Tetley, JLR, Corus acquisitions are fine examples while the failed bid to buy Orient Express hotels shows his hunger for growth.  Though criticized for overpaying for his acquisitions, he proved each one wrong. The JLR contributes all the profit for the parent Tata Motors at present.

But more than his business decisions, it is his personality that charms people including me.  He is a very humble man.  And that is one thing that sets him apart.  I still remember the gestures after the Taj attack.  He didn't wait for the government to take action post the rescue operation.  The same can be said about his refusal to ship a single Sumo to Pakistan.  After all the nation comes first for him. No other businessman at his level would do that.  He was driven more by values and less by profits.  A colleague at Reliance who formerly worked with Tata motors often told stories about how he used to visit the factory workshop and interact with all the employees to boost their morale.  Such was his persona.  I have not heard any CMD do that.  Even the otherwise angry Raj Thackeray spared him of speaking Marathi when he launched an attack on businessmen saying they should speak Marathi in Maharashtra.  And his response on being asked about Ratan Tata was " Please don't drag Ratan Tata into this. He is a global man and above all this". Only Ratan Tata could have charmed Raj Thackeray so much.

He never resorted to manipulations and managing the people in Delhi.  He was given unequal treatment while applying for dual technology in Telecom and even today in spite of being the first applicant has not received GSM spectrum for Delhi.  But that has not deterred him and bribe still remains a big NO.  Such values formed the base of the group he headed for 21 years and which has a history of more than a century.  Very few conglomerates survive for so long without values and a strong tradition like Tata.

At present, he is a part of PM council on  trade and industry and Carnegie Endowment for International peace apart from being the chairman of Tata trusts which is the major stakeholder of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata companies, and has his own venture, RNT Associates.  He is deeply involved in philanthropy and loves playing golf.  But given the amount of work he has and being most sought after for his experience and his nature to help anyone I assume he might not have the time to play his favourite sport. And so he reigns our hearts. A very happy birthday Sir!!

Vijay Mallya - "King of all times!"

December 18 has many notable birthdays to its credit.  Starting with my mother others include Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt and our very own King of Good Times, Dr. Vijay Mallya.  He may be called the "Richard Branson" of India or the flamboyant king or "playboy and brash" but he pulls off each appearance with panache.  Be it attending Derbies at the Mahalaxmi Race Course or IPL matches he never fails to make his presence felt.  The entourage of bikini clad sexy women makes males half his age jealous and being the face on the Kingfisher Calendar is a dream for upcoming models.  Its a dream lifestyle for many people today - money, beer, women. What else can a person ask for?

Taking over the reins of the UB group at a very young age (he was 28 when his father died an untimely death) he has steered his group like very few of his age could do.  Starting with consolidating the various companies under the UB group, he expanded his group rapidly to become the number 2 beer maker in the world.  He also has a fertilizer company, Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers (only one in Karnataka) and a sports company which owns football teams - Mohun Bagan AC and Kingfisher East Bengal, IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore and F1 team Force India besides the flagship United Breweries, United Spirits and now grounded Kingfisher Airlines.

All was hunky dory till 2007 when he acquired Air Deccan for two reasons - start flying abroad early (Indian rules stipulate minimum 5 years before flying abroad) and to compete with the LCCs.  Before that or even till late 2012 he was the "King of Good Times".  He has 26 exotic properties across the world, Morocco, Trump Towers in New York, Johannesberg, an island near France, the beach facing Kingfisher Villa in Goa (which coincidentally bear the same initials on the entrance as mine "VM".), the residential Kingfisher Towers in Bangalore and a stud farm as well.  I forgot to mention two world-class yachts where the best parties happen and are a delight for the coveted guest list.  He has on more than one occasion done India proud by getting the Tipu Sultan sword and Gandhi's artefacts from the auctions abroad saving the face for the Indian government in the latter case.  It was a lifestyle envied by most contemporaries.

He expanded his liquor portfolio through the inorganic route by buying iconic brands like Whyte and Mackay and Bouvet Ladubay and had 22 other brands selling more than a million cases.  One of the reasons why Vijay Mallya lived such a lifestyle can be attributed to the fact that he was the brand ambassador of the group, of Kingfisher.  "Vijay Mallya was Kingfisher and Kingfisher was Vijay Mallya."  With strict rules on advertising for liquor he decided to use aviation to promote the brand after water, parties etc.  But this is by far the worst move he has made (it looks so at present but life is full of surprises).  

It was his ambition to be the "King of skies" and made an effort to buy out Air Sahara. But he did not succeed as the controversial aviation 'raja' Naresh Goyal snapped it.  This event made his CFO and long time friend Ravi Nendugadi heave a sigh of relief as he had always opposed going into aviation. It was justified given that aviation had losses with just 1-2% margins in good times while the liquor business had anything upwards of 20% margins.  Any CFO would do that.  But VM had other plans and he always had his way.  He started full service carrier Kingfisher in 2005 and offered gourmet food, TV, gorgeous air hostesses and plush seats so that it could live up to its image.  Facing competition and rising costs compelled him to buyout Air Deccan when it was up for sale in 2007. He believed there are no low cost carriers but low fare carriers but somehow lost the way when he renamed Air Deccan as Kingfisher Red which created confusion among fliers. And from here the troubles started with aviation guzzling all the cash from the liquor business and more.  

At present he has sold United Spirits to Diageo with only 11% to his name most of which is pledged, his majority stake in Mangalore Chemicals has reduced to make him third largest shareholder and faces a threat of a takeover from Deepak Fertilizers, he has had to sell half his stake in F1 Force India to Sahara group, cut down on expenditure in football teams, reports of problems at RCB IPL team and a few days ago Heineken has become the largest shareholder in United Breweries, maker of Kingfisher beer.  The once tough negotiator is finding it tough to strike a deal with banks who are selling the collateral, Airport authorities and operators slapping notices for dues and IT department not far behind, so much so that the Kingfisher house and villa are being seized by creditors and Mallya is silent with occasional statements of starting his airline again.  Employees are not paid and the blame for the airline goes on everyone from parts manufacturers to engine makers and many have filed winding-up petitions in the HC which the court has admitted.  Surely one cannot have a birthday worse than this.

But then we are talking about Vijay Mallya.  He celebrates his losses as much as his wins.  He is known to speak straight to the extent of urging IIM Ahmedabad students that ban on liquor in Gujarat should be lifted. He was criticized but hey, he means business and he was promoting it.  If such problems were to bog him down Kingfisher would have never existed or grown so much.  It was his style that has made Kingfisher what it is today.  He is the only Rajya Sabha MP to wear diamond studs and flaunt it.  Later wore designer khadi jackets.  He had the support of all political parties when he filed nominations and he is vocal about policy changes which shows his clout.  A famous article says that a 20-odd boy from USA mortgaged his Ferrari for $1500 for 15 days and later returning to claim it after paying the principal and interest.  On being asked by the banker for the reason he said no parking space was safer than the bank for so less which took all by surprise.  He was Vijay Mallya.  Don't know how true it is but only Vijay Mallya could have done this.  He trounced Anil Ambani (the famous finance whiz kid of Dhirubhai who together with brother Mukesh are known to be expert environment managers) who had equal interest in buying Air Deccan.  

Such times are not new for him and if I am not wrong a party would be ready for his guests tonight and the New Year in Goa.  And he might be working on reviving his pet project, Kingfisher Airlines, which he micromanaged.  One famous saying from Vijay Mallya himself is " I am a businessman and my business is up for sale if I get the right price".  Time that he let go Kingfisher Airlines to save his liquor business.  He was King of Good Times prior to 2012 and now is the King of Bad Times.  Surely God had a glass of beer or whisky while writing his destiny and so I rightly call him "King of All Times". Happy birthday Vijay Mallya. Hiccup!!