How corporate honchos take a call (Milestone resolutions)

Source: The Economic Times.

NR Narayana Murthy Chief Mentor, Infosys

Quite early on in my career, I took the resolution to embrace fairness with everybody in every transaction. This meant I had to be open-minded yet rely on data, in judging every transaction, purely on its merit. And today, I can say that this principle has helped us, the founders of Infosys, to work harmoniously through thick and thin for over 25 years. In my opinion, this has been the most powerful and effective resolution in my life. Incidentally, the seeds of this principle were sown in me by Prof. J G Krishnayya, one of my professors at IIM, Ahmedabad. It amazed me that on a particular day, this man would be aggressive in winning his point of view on an issue, while on the very next day, he would be open to others’ ideas on another issue, with respect and without any sense of superiority.

Deepak S Parekh Chairman, HDFC Ltd

It was a decision that was neither impulsive nor irrational; it was a voice that guided me through my journey home. This was the time when I had been away from India for 11 years, while pursuing a CA degree and subsequently being employed with Chase Manhattan Bank, that took me to New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. And then, I chose to wind my way home and a year after I returned, I joined HDFC, an organisation that was yet to cut its teeth and toddle through infancy. I am sure that this was serendipity; the time was right and destiny made its plan for me.

Sulajja Firodia Motwani MD, Kinetic Motor Co Ltd

I remember I was about 18 then. One day, I was cribbing about something. I don’t remember what it was though. But I do remember what my grandfather, the late H K Firodia told me. He said that I just needed to look around me to realise how fortunate I was. ‘Be positive in life and you will be the happiest person,’ he advised. The year was coming to an end, and I took a new year vow to always approach everything with a positive attitude. It was not that I was negative earlier. But at that very impressionable age, I learnt the importance of being positive. Ever since, I have always tried to be optimistic in tough situations and I have seen how that has kept other people in a buoyant mood as well.

Gulu Mirchandani CMD, Mirc Electronics Ltd

The most important resolution of my life happened towards the end of 1991. That was when I vowed to make Indians proud of the ‘Made in India’ label. There’s an interesting story behind this. At that time, the country was facing a financial crisis and speculations were rife about what course of action would be taken. I was on a flight when I spotted Dr Manmohan Singh (the then finance minister). He called me over for a chat and mentioned that an announcement would be made the following day about permission being given to Sony Corporation to enter India. He said the government didn’t have a choice due to the steep foreign exchange deficit. At that point, Onida was approximately a Rs 150 crore company, while Sony was a global multi-national giant with billions of dollars in revenue and a very strong brand recall. Initially, I didn’t know how to react. Many of my industrialist friends thought the best option would be to sell out completely or risk getting wiped out by these giants. However, after much introspection, I decided to fight back. What also encouraged me was my father’s belief that ‘where there’s a will, there’s always a way’. Today, 15 years later, we continue to battle and beat the MNCs in the Indian market.

Habil Khorakiwala Chairman, Wockhardt Group

The first resolution was the one I took in 1993 for Wockhardt. This was immediately after we went public in December 1992. The resolution was to transform Wockhardt from a domestic company to a global organisation, and to invest significantly in research. Today, 65 per cent of our business comes from outside India, and we have invested roughly 9 per cent of our sales in research. The other memorable resolution was of a personal nature. On January 3, 1994, on our 25th marriage anniversary, my wife Nafisa and I decided to celebrate our anniversary in a unique way, by going on Haj. Till then, although I believed in religion, I wasn’t ritualistic. However, I must admit that this journey, which gave me a true glimpse of what Islam is, will remain one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Men who shaped up India's economy

Source: The Economic Times.

India had as many as 30 finance ministers after it secured independence from imperialist British rule in 1947. And, these gentlemen shaped up India’s economy which has grown in size to about US$ 800 billion. India has also emerged as the fastest growing economy after China and become a major provider of services and goods to the world. www.economictimes.com takes down the memory lane introducing every single individual who held finance portfolio. The story of India’s evolution as a major economic power is an interesting saga intertwined with political happenings. While three Prime Ministers held the coveted portfolio of Finance, only four ministers presented more than five budgets.

Liaquat Ali Khan: 1946-1947 (interim government):

Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan (1896 - 1951) was an Indian Muslim politician and a leading member of the All India Muslim League (AIML). He played an influential role in the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. He was closely involved in the negotiations over the form of independence to be granted to India after World War II. When the Indian political leadership asked the Muslim League to send its nominees for representation in the interim government, Liaquat Ali was asked to lead the League group in the Union Cabinet. He was assigned the finance portfolio by the first Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. Acknowledged as Jinnah's "right hand" and as such Liaquat was the obvious choice to become prime minister of independent Pakistan in 1947. He went on to become the country's senior most leader after Jinnah's death in 1948.

R K Shanmukham Chetty: 1947-1948

Independent India's first Budget was presented by the country's first finance minister, R K Shanmukham Chetty, on November 26, 1947. And, that was an interim Budget. It was a review of the economy and no new taxes were proposed as the budget day for 1948-49 was just 95 days away. He resigned shortly. It is believed that he was asked to resign by Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India due to a minor dereliction of duty by a subordinate official, so as to ensure probity.

K C Neogy: 1948

K C Neogy then took charge. He was the second Finance Minister of free India. He held office for just 35 days and didn't get an opportunity to present a Budget.

John Mathai: 1948-1950

John Mathai was an economist who served as India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1948. He presented two budgets for 1949-50 and 1950-51. He resigned after presenting the 1950 Budget following protests against vesting large powers with the Planning Commission and P C Mahalanobis.

C D Deshmukh: 1950-1956

CD Deshmukh was also the first Indian Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He presented an interim budget for 1951-52. The first general elections in post-independence era were held between December - February 1952. Deshmukh was given the Finance portfolio after the new ministry assumed office. He felt honoured to present the first budget to the first-time elected members of Lok Sabha. Hindi crept into the budget documents beginning 1955-56. His stewardship of the country's finances was marked by prudence and humane perspective. He provided the much desired vision to deal with the changing financial needs of a young, independent and under-developed country like India. He made significant contributions to the formulation and implementation of the country's First and Second Five Year Plans that provided strong base for the years ahead. He was responsible for ensuring social control of the financial structure such as the enactment of a new Companies Act, and nationalisation of the Imperial Bank of India and life insurance companies. He resigned from the Union Cabinet after protesting separation of Mumbai from Maharastra.

T T Krishnamachari: 1957-1958

T T Krishnamachari took over from him. He found that the calculations made in the budget for 1955-56 had gone awry. So, on November 30, 1956 in a five-thousand-word speech he described the changed economic situation and underlined the need to levy fresh taxes even before the next budget was presented. The Second General Elections were held in February-March 1957 and he presented an interim budget for 1957-58 on March 14, 1957 and the full budget subsequently. He was instrumental in setting up the country's three major steel plants and financial institutions like IDBI, ICICI and UTI. He introduced path-breaking tax reforms during his stint as Finance Minister. Krishnamachari had to resign in Feburary 1958 when one man Justice Chagla Commission found him guilty of corruption.

Jawaharlal Nehru: 1958-1959

Following Krishnamachari's resignation, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, himself took charge of the Finance portfolio and presented the budget for 1958-59. In the opening para of his budget speech Nehru had said ... "According to custom, the budget statement for the coming year has to be presented today (February 28, 1958). By an unexpected and unhappy chain of circumstances the Finance Minister, who would normally have made this statement this afternoon is no longer with us. This heavy duty has fallen upon me almost at the last moment."

FM who presented maximum no. of budgets

Morarji Desai: 1959-1964

Morarji Desai became the next Finance Minister and he presented the maximum number of budgets so far- ten. They included five annual and one interim budget during his first stint. In his second tenure, he presented three full budgets and one interim as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. His annual budgets were for the years from 1959-60 to 1963-64 and the interim budget for 1962-63.

T T Krishnamachari: 1964-1966

After the first stint of Morarji Desai, Krishnamachari once again became the Finance Minister for the second time. He presented the budgets for 1964-65 and 1965-66. Embarking upon measures needed for providing social security, Krishnamachari expanded the pension scheme to cover family members of the deceased government servants by introducing a new Family Pension Scheme in 1964. He planned schemes like the Rajasthan Canal Schemes, Dandakaranya and Damodar Valley Projects. The Neyveli Lignite Projects owe their existence to the fillip given by Krishnamachari. He resigned in late 1966.

Sachindra Choudhuri: 1966-1967

Sachindra Choudhuri presented the budget for 1966-67 after the resignation of T T Krishnamachari. It was an interim arrangement.

Morarji Desai 1967-1969

After the fourth General Elections in 1967, Morarji Desai once again became the Finance Minister. This was his second stint. The annual budgets for three years 1967-68 to 1969-70 and the interim budget for 1967-68 were also presented by him. The interim budget for 1967-68 was on account of the General Elections in March 1967. He was the only Finance Minister to have had the opportunity to present two budgets on his birthday - in 1964 and 1968. He was born on February 29. Desai resigned in July 1969 in protest against the nationalisation of major banks by an ordinance on a Saturday evening. He felt social control of banks would regulate their functioning and make them accountable.

Indira Gandhi: 1969-71

After Morarji Desai's resignation, Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister assumed the Finance portfolio. So far, she has been the only woman Finance Minister.

Y B Chavan: 1971-1975

Following the Fifth General Elections in March, 1971, Y B Chavan became the Finance Minister. He presented the interim budget for 1971-72 and the final budgets for four years - 1971-72 to 1974-75.

C Subramaniam: 1975-1977

C Subramaniam presented the budgets between 1975-76 and 1976-77. He cast the widest net to increase revenue through excise.

H M Patel: 1977-1979

After the Seventh General Elections in March 1977, the first non-Congress Ministry under the then Janata Party assumed office at the centre. Morarji Desai was elected as the Prime Minister. H M Patel held the Finance portfolio. He presented the interim budget for 1977-78. He also presented the annual budget for 1978-79.

Chaudhary Charan Singh: 1979-1980

The budget for 1979-80 was presented by Chaudhary Charan Singh who was also Deputy Prime Minister.

Ramaswamy Venkataraman: 1980-1982

After the seventh General Elections in January, 1980, the Congress Party returned to power. Venkataraman presented the interim and final budgets for 1980-81 and the annual budget for 1981-82. Later he rose to become the country's Vice President and President.

Pranab Mukherjee 1982-1984

Pranab Mukherjee presented the annual budgets for 1982-83, 1983-84 and 1984-85. He was the first Rajya Sabha member to hold the Finance portfolio.

V P Singh 1985-1987

After the Eighth General Elections in 1984, V P Singh presented the annual budgets for 1985-86 and 1986-87. There was no interim budget since the elections were held in December 1984. He was part of the ministry headed by Rajiv Gandhi. He oversaw the gradual relaxation of the license raj that Rajiv had in mind. He also gave extra power to the Enforcement Directorate of the Finance Ministry, that was given charge of tracking down tax evaders. Following a number of high-profile raids on suspected evaders - including Dhirubhai Ambani - Rajiv Gandhi was forced to sack him as Finance Minister, possibly because many of the raids were conducted on industrialists who had supported the Congress financially in the past.

Rajiv Gandhi: 1987-1988

Rajiv Gandhi presented the budget for 1987-88. He was the third Prime Minister to present a budget after his mother, and grand father. The exercise in zero-based budget began in 1987-88. The zero-based budgeting is a process of review, analysis and evolution for each budget request in order to justify its inclusion or exclusion from the integrated whole budget before it is finally approved. In India, the zero-based budgeting was implemented in three phases - one third in the first year, two thirds in the second year and fully from the third year. It is a continuous process.

N D Tiwari: 1988-1989

N D Tiwari presented the budget for the year 1988-1989.

S B Chavan 1989-1990

S.B. Chavan did the budget exercise for 1989-90. He also served twice as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Madhu Dandavate: 1990-1991

After the General Elections in November 1989, the then Janata Dal Government's Finance Minister Madhu Dandavate presented the annual budget for 1990-91.

Yashwant Sinha: 1991-1992

Following subsequent political developments, Yashwant Sinha became the Finance Minister and presented the interim budget for 1991-92.

Manmohan Singh 1991-1996

Manmohan Singh served as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India in the late 1980s, and was given the portfoilo of finance in 1991 by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. He presented the final budget for 1991-92 in July 1991. This was the first occasion when the interim and final budgets were presented by two ministers of two different political parties. The next four annual budgets of Shri Manmohan Singh had an orientation different from the one followed till then. The economic liberalisation package pushed by Singh and Rao opened the nation to foreign direct investment and reduced the red tape that had previously impeded business growth. The liberalisation was prompted by an acute balance-of-payments crisis whereby the Indian government was left without sufficient reserves to meet its obligations, and had begun preparations to mortgage its gold reserves to the Bank of England in order to obtain the cash reserves needed to run the country. As such, he was instrumental in making of an opened economy. He reduced the peak import duty from 300 plus to 50 per cent. He will be remembered best for making the rupee convertible in current account in just two phases. Introducing the concept of 'service tax' was his idea.

Jaswant Singh 1996

He served as Finance minister in the short-lived government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which lasted just from May 16, 1996, to June 1, 1996.

P Chidambaram 1996-1998

The general elections held in 1996, paved way for a coalition government supported by the left parties. This came as a big break for Chidambaram, who was given the key cabinet portfolio of Finance; this put him in the limelight. The final budget for 1996-97 was presented by P Chidambaram of the then Tamil Maanila Congress. It was the second time that interim and final budgets were presented by two ministers of different political parties. Following a constitutional crisis, the I.K. Gujral Ministry was on its way out and a special session of Parliament was convened only to pass Shri Chidambaram's 1997-98 budget. It was passed without a debate. Although the coalition government was a short-lived one (it fell in 1998), it showed Chidambaram's competence as Finance Minister, a factor which was to lead to his re-appointment to the same key portfolio under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2004.

Yashwant Sinha 1998-2002

After the General Elections in March 1998, Yashwant Sinha got the Finance portfolio in the first ever BJP-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government. He presented the interim and final budgets for 1998-99. After the 13th General Elections in 1999, he became the Finance Minister once again. He had presented four annual budgets - from 1999-2000 to 2002-2003. Yashwant Sinha presented the budget for 1999-2000 in the forenoon. Earlier, the budgets used to be presented at five in the evening as a pre-independence custom introduced by British establishment. While Manmohan Singh concentrated on making imports flexible, Sinha paid great attention to rationalization of excise and reduced the slabs from 11 to one.

Jaswant Singh 2002-2004

In July 2002 he became Finance Minister again, switching posts with Yashwant Sinha. He served as Finance Minister until the defeat of the Vajpayee government in May 2004 and was instrumental in defining and pushing through the market-friendly reforms of the government.

P Chidambaram: Incumbent Chidambaram became Minister of Finance again in the congress party-led United Progressive Alliance government on May 24, 2004. He is hard-working and widely believed to be honest.

Raghav Bahl already rules the television news space in the world’s largest democracy. His broadcast network comprises two business news channels—CNBC-TV18 in English and CNBC Awaaz in Hindi (both market leaders that account for almost 70% of the advertising revenue in the TV business news segment) and two mainstream news channels—CNN-IBN, market leader in English news that has exclusive partnership with CNN, the Time Warner news venture, and IBN-7, the third largest Hindi general news channel, in a partnership with Jagran Prakshan Ltd, a leading Hindi publication group.

Last year, the 45-year-old managing director of TV18 Group acquired Crisil MarketWire, a leading business news wire service, and he also runs a host of Internet properties across consumer services and content domains, including one of India’s largest business portals, www.moneycontrol.com. The group’s revenues were around Rs330 crore in 2006-07 and his flagship company, TV18 Ltd, has a market capitalization of Rs4,600 crore, making Bahl both a powerful and a rich entreprenuer.

But this is just the beginning as far as Bahl is concerned.

“Today, we are India’s largest news broadcast group... We want to be a very large media and entertainment group with a significant presence across the television broadcast business, Internet and films, and filmed content space,” he says.

It isn’t just talk. On 22 May, Bahl signed a 50:50 joint venture with Viacom Inc., one of the leading global entertainment content companies, to launch a general entertainment channel. He has also taken the plunge into movie making and says films will be a significant part of his overall content business. He has just sketched out ambitious plans for a separate events business.

That leaves Bahl with no presence in radio and print. While he says he won’t get into radio, Bahl says he would love to buy “a good business newspaper, if only their owners would want to sell”.

In a relatively short time, Bahl has come a long way. In the early 1980s, as a student, he used to anchor programmes for state-run public broadcaster Doordarshan for Rs250 a day. After finishing his MBA from Delhi’s Faculty of Management Studies in 1984, Bahl worked as a management consultant with AF Ferguson & Co. and American Express, but four years later, his original love for media brought him back into television—to Newstrack, the country’s first television news magazine launched by the India Today group. Then, in 1995, it was a content provider relationship with a channel called Asia Business News (ABN) that led to his deal with CNBC, an NBC Universal broadcast venture, to launch a 24x7 business news channel in 1999. (ABN merged with CNBC in Singapore in 1997 to create CNBC Asia).

In a freewheeling interview, Bahl discusses his larger game plan, his relationship with the world’s top three media and entertainment companies and the challenges he foresees. Edited excerpts:

Coming Out of Comfort Zone to Start Business

Source: The Economic Times.

Enticing salaries and zealous recruiters couldn’t distract them much. Last year, six IIM(L) students (including the batch toper) opted out of campus placements to turn entrepreneur. Five of them joined hands to launch two start-ups — a consultancy firm IndigoEdge and a health-tourism firm UniAxess.

Incorporated in May last year, they have received seed funding of Rs 16 lakh, landed six global projects and have tied up with hospital chains like Apollo.“These are early days, but for me it’s a dream come true,” says Anoop Radhakrishnan, one of the co-founders.

A decade back this would have been a professional harakiri. Leaving behind a high-profile well-paying job to start a company was the last thing on anyone’s mind. But easy availability of a good jobs, rising salaries and start-up funding is firing up dreams of bright Indians and also altering the risk-averse Indian mindset.

K Thyagrajan, CEO, Nirmalabs, incubator of Nirma Education and Research Foundation (NERF), says that unlike 15 years ago, sustenance isn’t the most important issue now. “Easy accessibility to capital coupled with a booming economy have instilled a positive mindset in people,” he says. The trend is most visible among the high-profiled corporate executives who are quitting their jobs at the peak of their career to start on their own. But students, fresh out of college, too are joining in.

IITian Satish Meena, after winning IIT Bombay’s business plan competition in 2005, has set up a start-up, Convis Technologies. Meena’s service-class parents initially did resist but eventually gave in. From IITs to IIMs — educational institutions are setting up e-cells, organising business plan contests and becoming hubs for bringing together entrepreneurs, angel investors. NERF of Nirma University has set up Nirma Labs as an incubator to spawn high tech knowledge based wealth generation ventures.

Then & Now

SOME of the biggest hindrances to starting business are no longer as daunting. Licence permit, the only way to start a business pre-1991, is long gone. Access to finance, a critical factor, that allowed only family-owned businesses to flourish has become more democratised. But the most important shift has been the trickle-down effect of the economic growth. “I know that a job awaits me even if my business doesn’t work and I can join them thereafter,” comments a young entrepreneur.

Headhunters seem to agree. Says K Sudarshan, managing partner, EMA Partners International, “it is now considered an experience and not a drawback.” Talking about easy availability of capital, Ajay Kumar Kapur, CEO, Sidbi Venture, says that venture capitalists (VCs) entered the market when banks began to feel the heat of lending start-ups which was basically post-liberalisation. There has also been a change in the mindset now. It’s the idea of losing control and sharing business. “Earlier businesses were created for generations to follow but nowadays with the growing mergers and acquisitions people are willing to sell off their business which is important for a VC,” he says.

Start-up Ecosystem

Institutional support is also coming in. Colleges are introducing subjects on entrepreneurship or providing a platform for the students to live their dreams. Since its inception in 2005, FMS Delhi has funded eight entrepreneurs. Its International Entrepreneurship Challenge (IEC) received 373 entries this year including international entries from the US, Singapore, Nepal and Pakistan. IIM-Lucknow’s annual business plan contest, ‘Nirvaan’, has seen some enterprising students turn entrepreneurs.

Prakash Mundhra, winner of 2005 Nirvaan, launched his company called Sacred Moments that produces puja kits called ‘Blessingz’ in 2006 and the company sold products worth Rs 34 lakh in Diwali the same year. “I refined and re-refined the idea to reach the final stage,” says Mundhra who gave up a Rs 7 lakh job from ICICI Prudential to start his venture.

Patrick Turner, affiliate professor of entrepreneurship and director, Insead is upbeat on entrepreneurship in India: “The enthusiasm level I see among Indian children is phenomenal compared to the west especially Europe.” Institutes are setting up incubators on the campus to help students. IIT Mumbai has 15 such incubators running 12 fresh businesses. “Be it infrastructural support or professional expertise, an incubator is a great support system for any business in is nascent stage,” an IIT student said. But women entrepreneurs still lag far behind.

“The base of women entrepreneurs to men was so small that eventual increase looks insignificant when compared,” says Vani Kola, managing director, Nea-IndoUS Ventures. Purvi Sheth, VP, Shilputsi says that a majority of women have turned into entrepreneurs mostly by default rather than design. But it may change in future. For women, looking for flexibility of time and workspace, start-up has been the best way to pursue a career. In countries like the US, women have led the start-up movement.

What Lies Ahead

Kapur of Sidbi Ventures says that on quality of business ideas, Indian entrepreneurs have a long way to go. “They may be putting the existing technologies to use differently but new innovative ideas are what we need,” he explains. Sheth has a different take on that. She diagnoses the problem as being paradoxical. On one end, entrepreneurs find it difficult to state the final objectives—-it doesn’t mean that they should leap milestones but they should have the ability to think global, she says.

While entrepreneurship may be turning into a fashion statement like in the Silicon Valley but the fact remains that India has a long way to go. “While so far technology has been the thrust area, the future of entrepreneurship is in services,” says V Chandrasekar, executive director, Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.

No matter how enabling the ecosystem at the end it’s gumption, passion and determination that holds the key to business. A VC recalled that his company was initially wary of financing a 55-year old executive’s project. Once they invested, they realised that it was his courage that made it a success. “Within a year we exited with 2.5 times the invested sum,” he said.

Govindbhai Kakadia, chairman, Sheetal group, owner of the Kiah line of jewellery is a living example. As a 10-year-old boy, who couldn’t read and write, got inspired from the Bollywood flick — Waqt to make his mark in this big bad world and live life away from rural Gujarat. Starting from working 14 hours a day in a diamond factory, he now owns Rs 1,000-crore Sheetal group — and yes the man we are talking about started his business in the pre-reforms era.