"Swacch Bharat" to "Jimmedaar Pragatisheel Bharat"

Since the time NaMo has taken over as the PM each and every move has captured headlines not only in India but across the globe.  Be it the camaraderie with Shinzo Abe, the hard talk on border issue with China, keeping aside differences with USA over non-issue of visa in 2005 or simply wooing the neighbours, he has charmed all.  While there have been announcements - both big and small - there are some issues which have not found mention.

Relaxing UGC Rules:

A teacher shapes students for the future.  During a casual chat with one of my favourites, Geeta mam, I came across this peculiar problem faced by teachers.  An excellent professor who has now retired and  coaches her kids cannot enroll for part-time teaching at colleges except on contract basis because of certain rules.  This is because UGC rules state that only when absolutely necessary can colleges hire part-time teachers and that too with other restrictions. While post-grad colleges have the facility of part-time faculty, the same benefit is not extended to under-grad courses.  Though I am not too sure how feasible it would be to tweak the rules right away, there can surely be an arrangement where teachers who have vast knowledge but for some reasons have to quit full-time teaching can teach part-time as UGC faculty.  Surely there are many teachers out there with similar circumstances and their expertise can be used to teach the Gen Next.  It can be started on a pilot basis in certain areas to see if can be implemented on a pan-India basis.

e-Voting:

Next comes the issue of voting.  Since I became eligible, I have voted thrice.  I can proudly say that I was the first person at my voting booth (at 7am sharp on all 3 occasions), sometimes even before the officials have set their EVMs.  But unfortunately, I could not vote for the Lok Sabha Elections of 2014 and in all likelihood will not be able to vote for the Assembly elections on 15 October.  My vote may not affect the results on an individual level but if there are at least 5000 people like me in my constituency it will make a difference as can be seen from the last Haryana Assembly elections where the winning margin was approximately the same number in 21 constituencies.  There are talks about allowing citizens to vote electronically but nothing has taken shape.  This facility if implemented would be of immense use to working professionals and students studying outside their home.  If SEBI can implement e-voting for company resolutions (it is quite secure which I can tell from my personal experience), the government can surely implement this for its citizens who are unable to vote.

Sports:

Another area that requires immediate attention is sports.  If I look at the recent performance, then the Indian scorecard looks like this- 

London Olympics - Failed to bag a Gold, 2 Silvers and 6 Bronzes and was 55th in the tally

Commonwealth Games 2014 - 15 Golds, 30 Silvers and 19 Bronzes securing the 5th place in the tally

Asian Games 2014 - 11 Golds, 9 Silvers and 37 Bronzes for the 8th place in the tally.

In Asian Games even North Korea won more silvers than us taking them ahead of India.  This when the population is 24.9 million against a population of 1.25 billion of India as per 2013 estimates.  Such a shame for us that we cannot have a noticeable place in sports.

When Abhinav Bindra wins an individual Gold it makes headlines.  Surely its a great moment but why can't we have many more Golds.  There is no dearth of talent but it is the facilities that has not allowed us to excel in sports.  And how can we? We hardly encourage sports other than cricket with a late but much needed ₹ 400 crore allocation for sports development in J&K, Manipur as well as training.  

But what plagues our sports institutes is the people who head them. Politicians are the kings of these sporting bodies with even NaMo being the Gujarat Cricket Association chief before becoming PM.  Praful Patel heads football and given his reputation of pushing Air India into losses I guess Football is going for a toss.  Similarly Chess uses to be controlled by Srini who now heads BCCI and ICC directly or via proxy.  We all know his alleged misdeeds.  There are many others which can be visited at http://goo.gl/dR2GZ5.  Even the Honorable Supreme Court, in Dec. 2013, observed that Businessmen and politicians are ruining sports and for the second time (the first being the ordinance issue), RaGa made sense when he suggested that politicians should stay out of sports.  But politicians, not known to give up their fiefdoms, refuted this right away with Praful Patel openly opposing his coalition partner.  Such a pity for Indian sports!! Rules need to be changed but the change makers themselves sit atop these bodies.

Recycling:

 India produces a huge amount of e-waste annually.  Rough estimates show that everyday 8500 mobiles, 3000 PCs and 5500 TVs are thrown away.  This amounts to a total of 2.7 million tonnes of waste every year.  But our recycling capacity as per the government website shows that we are well short of recycling the entire waste.  12 States together have a capacity of 296388 metric tonnes per annum and roughly 60% concentrated in states of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.  The stark difference shows us what we need to do.  One solution could be to encourage SEZ specially meant for recycling similar on the lines of SEZ for semiconductors in the recent budget.  We could also encourage the use of refurbished phones in India.  If Flipkart sends a scratched handset surely there was something wrong.  Such handsets can be sold in the refurbished market.  Also phones which have minor defects can be repaired and sold as refurbished.  The Nokia plant in Chennai which has an uncertain fate can be used for the same with the plant being sold off to some player who gets some benefits and a middle path is worked out with Nokia regarding outstanding dues.  And it is not impossible.  It can help the government to fulfill its ambitious plans of providing smartphones to 25 million households ( http://goo.gl/PjjYMR) as well as the various freebies that state governments promise once voted to power.  The Samajwadi distributed free laptops, Amma with her TVs and now the Shiv Sena promising tablets we can surely provide refurbished devices to rural areas instead of those cheap, low quality knock-offs.  

Revamping iconic brands:

For an MBA graduate like me with Finance as the majors, I would say it is prudent to shut down loss making units.  And the government is right in ordering the closure of 6 units while reviving 5 others.  The government knows more than I do so I would not doubt its judgement.  But instead of shutting it down and incurring ₹ 1000 crores towards VRS, the companies can be sold off on an as-is where-is basis and have an agreement with the new owners to phase out the workers gradually.  The value for such companies may not be significant but there are definitely some buyers out in the market for companies like HMT Watches which have a legacy and also the Braille watch in its portfolio amongst others.  There is a sense of pride in these brands as they were amongst the first Indian brands and people are ready to buy them if they are upgraded to be in sync with contemporary watches.  Another company, Hindustan Motors, which has suspended operations should be privatized.  The Ambassador will get a new look yet save its name.

Though I am not too sure how the above issues can be addressed, I trust NaMo to use his skills to get things done.  Swacch Bharat has been in the works for many years under successive governments but none could get the hype that he created.  Though he can only urge to keep our country clean it is our responsibility to implement it.  Similarly it is our duty to ensure responsible growth and hopefully we achieve it sooner than later.

A Wish-List for PM Narendra Damodardas Modi

While the country was celebrating with laddoos and crackers on May 16 to celebrate the clear victory to NaMo, the man himself started planning his tasks even before the swearing-in took place.  Secretaries were asked to make presentations not on what was right and what should be done but on what went wrong.  After all a win may teach a line but a failure will teach you a book.  So today after NaMo is the 15th PM of India, I have my own little wish list for him.  And some of these wishes may be small in front of the bigger infrastructure and power needs but none the less I feel that it is important.

First is the critical issue of defence.  Though reports suggest at the time of writing that Arun Jaitley will be given the additional charge of defence apart from finance, I believe that this portfolio should be handled by Modi himself at least for the first year or so.  And the reason for this is not his ability to give a fitting reply to outside attacks (obviously that is a given thing) but his administration skills.  Each year we have a budget of more than Rs. 2 trillion and rising and we have invested in upgrading the Army and to some extent the Air Force.  But the Navy is seriously neglected.  And the recent fire mishaps on many of our submarines are a proof of it.  To ensure that development of Navy as well as Air Force is fast tracked with R&D given top priority there is none better than the man himself.   It was a pity that DK Joshi resigned for no fault of his own.

My second concern is about the state of highways.  And I'm talking from my experience in Mumbai.  It is famously said that in Mumbai there are "roads in potholes."  Though highways need to be built at a very fast pace to connect the whole of the country and to fulfil Vajpayee's dream of the Golden Quadrilateral, but the quality of roads needs to be maintained.  Gujarat and Rajasthan have fantastic highways but the same cannot be said about Mumbai.  Though it is the prerogative of the state government to a great extent, but for a city like Mumbai the Centre should also ensure roads like that in Gujarat.  But with the name of Nitin Gadkari doing the rounds for Highways, this concern seems to be taken care of.

Then comes the issue of the telecom sector.  Being a telecom enthusiast even today after completely disconnecting from the sector since I completed my graduation, my heart pains to see the sector in doldrums.  There are no clear policy rules, the government entities (BSNL and MTNL) are running into losses thereby hindering the chances of communication to the last mile and the ITI being on ventilator support.  The government can work out solutions to create a telecom behemoth by merging BSNL and MTNL, encourage ITI to take up more R&D to improve itself and provide domestically produced telecom equipment which also secures our country.  A small example is the case of SIM cards which are imported and not domestically manufactured posing a huge security threat.

Fourth is the concern about teachers.  A report in Mint has already said that though the percentage of literates has gone up, but the quality of education has gone down.  And the reason for that is government schools which provide education irrespective of religion have very very few good teachers left.  All the good ones are poached by private schools which charge a bomb from kids and as a result only the top 5% of the people can send their children to really good schools.  This is a time bomb ticking and schools have now become a recession proof business.  There will be no talent left in the country.  So instead of populist schemes, the pay of government teachers should be increased so that more and more teachers opt for government schools and also training institutes which improve the quality of teaching.  The issue of establishing top universities is something that has been said about by many.

Next is the issue of IPR.  And it not only includes promoting development of R&D for innovations but also marketing them and making money.  This will help not only the people of India but people from poor African nations as well.  Indians are known to have the best minds but unfortunately we have not used them up to the mark.  This should change.

And last is the revival of Hindustan Motors' manufactured Ambassador car.  Today newspaper reports said that the last plant in West Bengal has shut down thereby indicating that days are almost over.  This may be prudent financially but a car which only last year won the toughest taxi in the world does not deserve this treatment.  The Amby is one car the Indians are proud of and it is more of a matter of pride to popularise it by making changes to suit the current needs yet having its original DNA.  And who better than Dilip Chhabaria to turn it around.  If he believes in turning around the car then it is absolutely possible.

The list for NaMo is endless but these are a few things that I found had not got much limelight amongst the power, infrastructure, CAD and inflation news.  I know expectations are high and Modi will definitely fulfil all of them.  Jai Hind!! 

Elections 2014 - A humorous outlook!!

Finally the most covered election in all forms of media comes to an end and the people of India have given Narendra Damodardas Modi a clear majority to take the country forward.  A simple chaiwala will now lead the country with the hope of a billion Indians that he will bring about development.  And while the country reached new lows in terms of political speeches with words like ‘neech’, ‘maa-bete ki sarkar’, ‘zeher ki kheti’ and other highly dramatic words being used frequently for a thunderous applause from the audience, once the election results were out each and every person on social media tried to bring out their humorous best.  To clear the serious and tense atmosphere a collection of tweets which sadly mocked the candidates and parties but brought a smile on the faces of Twitteratis and Facebook-wallahs and the whatsapp warriors. 

It’s said “Ladies first” so my first tweet would start with one of the most controversial figures in Bollywood (show biz would have been better), Rakhi Sawant.

At one point when Rakhi Sawant had only 15 votes, someone on Twitter commented:

                “ Rakhi Sawant got 15 votes!! 1 by herself, 1 by Jesus, 1

                   by Mika Singh and maybe 1 by Kamal R Khan.:P What

                   about the rest 11? Swayamwar ppl? “ 

Given Modi’s Gujarati background and his work-style here are other few compilations: 

                “Dear Modiji, this is a humble request from a humble

                 Indian that..

                In your quest and eagerness to replicate the Gujarat

                model, please do not make India a dry nation..

                I cannot drive to neighbouring countries to drink” 

Even the greatest of greats, Rajnikant was trolled by NaMo.

                “Darwaza khola to Saap nikla

                Wah wah

                Darwaza khola to Saap nikla

                Ye Narendra Modi to Rajnikant ka bhi baap nikla” 

After seeing Modi become PM, Pakistan govt to Geo TV: 
                 “We don’t want Kashmir now.. But we will not give

                  Karachi.” 

                “Modi opened his innings like Sachin Tendulkar, carried

                  it on like Virat Kohli and Finished it like MS Dhoni” 

As if jokes about men having had enough about their wives, the fairer sex found mention with Modi and elections.

                “NaMo victory proved that a man can only succeed 
                 when his mother is near and wife away”

 Manmohan has been the butt of all jokes and he might have relieved a sigh of relief now that he no longer heads a troubled coalition (though he considers it an achievement to keep the coalition intact)

                “Today at 2pm Manmohan Singh begins work on his

                  Autobiography titled “5 mistakes of my life” – 2G, 3G,

                  Sonia G, Rahul G and Rahul ke jija-G.”

Now for some Rahul Gandhi and Congress bashing: 

                “Breaking News: Rahul Gandhi started early

                 preparation for 2019 polls.  Slogan is ready leher ke

                 baad boonda boondi, ab ki baar Rahul Gandhi” 

BREAKING NEWS:

                “Congress files and FIR against BJP for Gang Rape”

Rahul Gandhi had made Women empowerment and RTI his answers to any damn question to which Bhavin (@Compucaholic) on Twitter said: 

                “If Smriti Irani wins in Amethi, it is only because of

                  Rahul Gandhi – women empowerment” 

Sir Ravindra Jadeja had this to tweet about Rahul Gandhi’s adolescence:

                “Rahul Gandhi is praying for rain so that he can win by

                  Duckworth Lewis System” 

And to end with the list on Congress, @andy_jadeja effectively turned BJP’s slogan to indicate Congress’ end:

                “Congress’ slogan after #ElectionResults : Abki baar,

                  Antim Sanskaar! #Results2014.” 

The popularity of Whatsapp which was acquired for an astronomical $19bn by Facebook can be gauged from this message:

                “Good news for Congress for winning under 50 seats –

                  they can now make a Whatsapp group without leaving

                  any MP out. And there's space for AAP too ” 

And the man (resembles a lot like Kancha of the new Agneepath) who turns any event into a hilarious tweet, Ramesh Srivats, had a few to offer as well.

                “Current Situation : BJP+ : 292, Congress+ : 76..

                  Congress needs 12 to avoid follow-on” 

                “Rahul, Modi, all same yaar. First thing they did today

                  was run to their mummy.” 

How can cricket be far behind in his tweets:

                “Good thing no IPL match today. Would have definitely

                  been washed out by this Modi wave."

The famous Meira Kumar, former Speaker of Lok Sabha and famous for her Baith jaiye remarks was not spared when she was routed.             

                "Tragic. She told everyone else to take their seats, but 

                  lost her own RT @firstpostin Lok Sabha Speaker Meira

                 Kumar loses from Sasaram, Bihar"

How can AAP be far behind:

               “Delhi Daredevils Good on paper, Lousy on field

                Articulate captain, Chaos tactics Best team in Delhi.

                Worst team in India. Wait. They're AAP.”

While Gujaratis have been the butt of many jokes this election season, one to end with a joke on Sardars.. Or should I say AAP.

                 "Mystery of AAP's win of 4 seats in Punjab solved..

                  Actually AAP ka button dekh ke sardaro ne daba diya..

                 "socha khud PM banenge"..."  

And finally to the youth which played a big role in this election, by @shivika_gupta26 :

                

                  "For the first time ever, the youth of the country is

                   excited about 16th may instead of 14th feb.” 

And as I compile this, the next PM of India, Narendra Modi, would be singing the remix of “Saala main to Sahab ban gaya” with his own version..   

                 “sala main to PM ban gaya, ye victory meri dekho, ye

                  history meri dekho, jaise model mere Gujarat ka”..

Actually it’s what India Today conceptualised in the form of a

video So Sorry..  

Jokes apart, there are many expectations from Modi given the development he has talked about and his immediate challenge would be to restore growth and confidence in the story of India. Here’s wishing him tonnes of luck for the 60 months to come. Adios!!

Improving India - Holistically.

After a great start to the millennium for the country with the GDP even touching 9% in the latter part of the first decade, it has been only one way for India since then – downhill.  Be it the slowing economy, rising fiscal deficits, border tensions with neighbours and the humungous scams that surfaced has put India on the back foot again.  Some of the problems that India faces today were highlighted in an earlier blog (http://bit.ly/NVd2NP) and it received some constructive criticism as well that I can crib about the current condition but not suggest improvements that can develop the country.  It did not take much time to find solutions to some of the problems.  And if a no-brainer like me can think of it, the rulers in the capital (any party that comes to power) are much more intelligent and diplomatic to develop India.

First - coming to the problem of economic turmoil in the country.  The finances of the country are in pretty bad shape.  CAD is rising and has already hit 95% of the budgeted CAD in the first 9 months of the year.  Major reasons are populist schemes like subsidizing kerosene, Food Security Bill which will be a pain for the next government no matter which party comes into power.  Instead of going for such populist schemes the government can manage their supply chains better and avoid leakages.  For example, India has a bumper harvest in almost all seasons of rice and wheat which make up the staple diet of the people.  But the problem is managing them.  This leads to humungous wastage which can be avoided if there are adequate storage facilities.  FDI in FCI would be of great help.  Food Corporation of India (FCI) is one company which can be managed to end the food woes of India.

Next is defence.  No country, especially countries like India which are surrounded by countries like Pakistan on one side and China on the other, can afford to rely on imported weapons to give a fitting reply.  India, even though says that it has started an indigenization drive, imports as much as 55% of the parts used to build missiles like Brahmos.  R&D must be encouraged and investments must be made to make sure that in the coming decade we supply technology required to make defence weapons.

If the foundation is not strong, the building is bound to crumble.  Our education sector is like that base.  If we do not provide quality education, the future is bound to be doomed.  A recent report in the Mint has described India as a country where the percentage of people receiving education has increased but the quality of education has decreased substantially.  Why can’t the government invest in schools instead of bailing out, say Air India or financially supporting banks which are loss making.  A country’s natural resources or PSU undertakings are considered to be a nation’s wealth and need to be run effectively to support the entire industry in times of crisis but if good money is constantly being put to bail out bad money it is not a wise decision.  Some divestment is appropriate.  It is a shame that we do not have a single world class university which we can call to stand out in the top-10.

Inclusive banking is one thing that India still has not been able to achieve.  In spite of an initiative by RBI to open a certain amount of branches to encourage people to avail banking services, it has not achieved its aim.  More than 50% rural bank accounts are dormant.  Also none of the Indian banks feature in the world’s largest banks.  To ensure India has a considerable number of banks in the world map, consolidation of nationalised banks is important.  This will improve both efficiency and ranking of Indian banks.  Having 27 nationalized banks and over 3000 private and cooperative banks is way too fragmented for a country like India.

Another major problem for India is the telecom industry.  There are no set rules and it seems that rules are framed for just one group (rather 2 after the split).  Rules have to be such that there is healthy competition.  Another problem is the functioning of MTNL and BSNL.  It makes very little sense to have one operator in 2 circles while the remaining telecom circles have another entity.  Schemes like VRS and reshuffling should enable merger of the two entities.  While private telecom players have moved to third party managed infrastructure which enables them to optimise their services, BSNL is still stuck with old methods.  One of the major reasons for BSNL’s failure is its inability to award tenders for expansion.  Since it is not efficiently managed, fixed number of lines is laid beyond which tenders have to be floated.  A PSU telecom company can take the country to the next level of telecom revolution but in India, BSNL is trying to survive its evolution.  Even the SIM cards used in phones cannot be produced in India which can pose a huge security threat in the future.  Such is the shoddy infrastructure for a sector I love and belong to.

These are just some of the things that are in the planning but not implemented by subsequent governments.  There is an Indian version about the ants and grasshoppers story (http://goo.gl/xLqG9y).  If the government does not plan well it is not far that the story will turn into reality.  The sardars and rulers in Delhi need to do something before it is too late.

An Open Letter to PM Dr. Manmohan Singh!!

Dear Mr. PM,

First, I am very sorry for being a week late in giving my reactions on your speech last week.  But if you as the PM of India could make a speech after a near 5 year delay, I'm way better.  But I would not compare myself with you and so I apologise for the delay.  I waited eagerly for your speech to hear something new and different given the drubbing in 4 states (in one you had to eat the humble pie) and the Lok Sabha elections are just months away.  But alas. Forget the usual self, you gave yourself clean chit in the multi billion dollar scams.  What a shame!

You started with a positive outlook for the Indian economy and the country as a whole and reasoning that the initiatives taken earlier will now bear fruit.  Let me first remind you that you had famously said in 2009 that the inflation would be brought down in 100 days if your government came into power.  That promise still remains unfulfilled and you show us dreams of a better future.  Moving further, you outlined your government's contribution for the betterment of rural areas by introducing schemes like the MNREGA and increase in wages for rural India and a record output.  But despite such huge output, the cost keeps increasing every year and the 'mango' people literally cry when onions skyrocket and the Agriculture Minister does nothing except filling his coffers. Even though you say that the per capita income has increased and there has been a drastic reduction in BPL people, the real picture is a huge deviation from the numbers.  And when Dr. Montek Singh announces ₹ 27-₹ 32 per day as the poverty level, it is bound to make your picture rosy.  And while poverty has reduced, there is huge disparity.  Some people have so much money that they can free their son in the hit and run case while others don't get meals even once a day.  

The 9% growth rate you talked about was the after-effect of the policies of the previous government.  UPA-1s policies were disastrous and are reflected during the ruling of UPA-2 (For reference http://bit.ly/1aNZR5L and http://bit.ly/1gpXlXe). By your own admission NDA's 6 years had more kms of highways built than your 9 year rule. The only good part of the speech came when you highlighted the Sarva Shikshan Abhiyaan giving importance to education of the girl child.  And then came the confession of not creating enough jobs in manufacturing - one of the many reasons why India cannot even dream of matching China.

As if this was not enough came a blunder from a renowned economist - that high inflation is a concern but it has been offset by the increase in wages faster than inflation.  Forget an economist, even my sister who hardly understands finance or economics would not dare to make such a statement.  It seems all your intellect has gone in holding onto the PM's chair as you yourself consider this as an achievement.  The Food Security Bill which is considered your government's pet project has worsened the finances of the country and it will be a painful task for the next government irrespective of the party to repair it.  While your statements about implementing policies, faith in people are not new, they are too late as elections are near and you have sensed the people's mood.  People want real development and not subsidies, merit based systems and not quota systems which you have misread.

Now other famed statements which you made.  I may sound like supporting Narendra Modi but as the PM calling the PM nominee of the opposition who enjoys the support of India Inc. and is high in public ratings is a political sin.  You have disrespected the people's verdict and is the worst political mistake according to me. If being remote controlled by Sonia Gandhi was not enough, you went ahead and praised Rahul Gandhi and called him excellent to be the next PM.  I would like to ask you what has he done to prove himself.  Eating at farmer's home or citing Jupiter's escape velocity(please ask ISRO to issue a statement explaining this as most could not understand) for upliftment of poor does not make him excellent.  Secretly even you would accept this.

The 9 year UPA rule had many opportunities to take India on the development path.  But it reversed the cycle.  There has been record agricultural output but no proper storage facilities.  Airlines is now Naresh Goyal and Etihad's monopoly.  Oil and Gas is Reliance's monopoly and no action is taken when output drops to historical lows.  Environment for business is gloomy with honest businessmen like KM Birla named in scams and investors are scared with retrospective taxes and red tape.  CAD is ballooning and investments dwindling.  And then you have the scams which I took 2 minutes just to confirm the amount of 0's in the figure released.  And they keep getting bigger.  Lalu Prasad was convicted for a fodder scam which was valued at ₹ 900 crore by the CBI.  But then came the 2G scam, Coalgate, CWG and the list is endless.  Yet nothing is done and you say that people have forgiven you by electing you again in 2009.  It seems that an intelligent octogenarian has lost all his intellect.

It is said that Sardars are the first people to die for the country.  But you have been just the opposite.  You have been a mute sardar in this circus called UPA.  Forget asardar, you don't even come near to being "a sardar".  I don't like parties but love individuals, including you, for their intellect.  But now you compel me to drop you from the list.  By announcing the retirement, you were again late by 5 years and as they say it is 'too little, too late'.  To give you some credit I'd say "its never to late to do something good.' Hope the remaining 4 months you undo some damage done.

With a painful heart,
India's mango person.

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!!