Sundar Pichai, Google Chief Executive Officer received a whopping $100.5 million pay package in the year 2015, according to a filing from parent company Alphabet. This package included $99.8 million in restricted stock that will vest in full by 2017, besides a $6,52,500 salary. The stock award hasn't previously been disclosed in filings. The former deputy of Google co-founder Larry Page was named to run the search engine unit following the re-organisation into a holding company last year. Following that promotion, Alphabet in February awarded him restricted shares valued at $199 million, the largest grant ever given to a Google executive officer whose pay has to be reported in filings. The two grants have brought Pichai's holding of unvested restricted shares to $635 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. He also holds unvested stock options valued at $11.6 million. Alphabet typically grants equity awards to executives once every two years, a strategy it has said 'encourages executives to take a long-term view of the business'. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt received $8.04 million for 2015, including a $1.25 million salary and $6 million cash bonus. Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat was awarded $31 million, including $25.1 million in restricted stock.
Of late, Vijay Mallya has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, appealed to the general public on Twitter to leave his son, Siddharth alone and not target him. The liquor baron, Vijay Mallya who is in the United Kingdom, took to Twitter to ask people not to target his son Siddharth, and not to involve him in the Rs.9,000 crore bank loan default case that he is currently fighting. "My son Sid does not deserve all this hatred and abuse. He has had nothing to do with my business. Shower abuse on me if you must but not him. Slam me if you must but not a young man," Mallya said in a tweet. According to reports, Siddharth has faced a massive backlash on Twitter after Mallya left the country, which led to trolls attacking him with questions about his father's location and whereabouts. Siddharth had already sent a series of tweets against the abuse that he received.
Cigarette maker Godfrey Phillips India said Ruchir Kumar Modi, son of former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi, has been appointed as an additional director of the company. The board of the company has cleared Ruchir's appointment, effective from March 19, 2016, Godfrey Phillips said in a BSE filing. In November last year, Ruchir had received 2,000 shares in the company, amounting to 0.0038 percent from his father as a gift. As of the quarter ended December 31, 2015, promoter Modi family group owns 43.50 percent stake in the company, while Philip Morris Global Brands Inc owns 25.10 percent stake. Lalit Modi is currently facing investigation by the Enforcement Directorate over alleged financial irregularities while hosting the IPL tournament. He is currently residing in the UK.
India's Tata Steel, Britain's largest steelmaker, is considering the sale of its entire UK business to stem heavy losses, a move that would draw a line under its almost decade-long foray into Britain. After a marathon board meeting in Mumbai, the Indian steel giant said in a statement that the financial performance of its UK arm had deteriorated substantially in recent months, after years of weak conditions.
Blaming high manufacturing costs, domestic market weakness and increased imports into Europe from countries like China, the company said it saw little change ahead for its UK plants. Tata said its European arm would now "explore all options for portfolio restructuring, including the potential divestment of Tata Steel UK, in whole or in parts". "Given the severity of the funding requirement in the foreseeable future, the Tata Steel Europe Board will be advised to evaluate and implement the most feasible option in a time-bound manner," it added. Tata Steel bought Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus in 2007 and has since struggled to turn the giant around in the face of a deteriorating market, slashing costs and thousands of jobs. The company said it remained in talks with the UK government and with investment firm Greybull Capital over the sale of its British long products unit, which makes steel for use in construction. Talks with Greybull were announced last year.
Twitter not only got Mahindra Group Managing Director Anand Mahindra's attention, it also got him to shut down a fountain at the company's Mumbai office. Twitter user Rohit Talwalkar posted a picture of the fountain at Mahindra Towers recently, suggesting it be shut down given that a large part of Maharashtra struggles with drought and water scarcity. A day later, Mahindra responded to the tweet, promising to shut the fountain down as it sends the wrong signal. In his tweet, Mahindra also explained that the fountain only recirculated the water and caused no wastage. While some twitter users are questioning the decision by mentioning that the fountain could help birds in the summer days to come, others are praising it. Rohit Talwalkar tweeted @ anandmahindra fountain at mahindra towers at time of severe drought in Mah. Guess can be avoided. A day later, Mahindra responded to the tweet, promising to shut the fountain down as it 'sends the wrong signal'. @ anandmahindra. Tweeted It's recirculated water & no wastage. But you're right.
Anything connected to spirituality in business is a very crucial element. It not only influences people to take the call, but also induces peace, calm and a balanced approach, and if that spirituality turns into hardcore business, things will be on the high. As per the ratings of agency Brick-work, Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda is one such which has hit the high. It seems that business is the new moksha, as spiritual and religious gurus of India having millions of dedicated followers are now all set to sell FMCG products in India and become business czars of the new India. Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda will soon churn out $1 billion (Rs.7,000 crore) of revenues and become India's fifth largest FMCG company after Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Nestle India and Britannia Industries. Established as a small manufacturing unit in 2007, and having just 200 outlets in 2014, Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved now has 5000+ franchises all over India, and they have just reported revenues of Rs.3,267 crore for the 10-month period ending January 2016. This is a massive jump of 106 percent compared to last year, when they reported revenues of Rs.1,587 crore. As per rating agency Brickwork, 'PAL (Patanjali) has expanded its basket of products tremendously over the last year. Sustaining this with profitable growth requires continuous R&D, enlargement of contract manufacturing and quality control'. It has narrowed their gap with decades old FMCG firms from India like Dabur (Rs.4,233 crore revenue), Marico (Rs.3,903 crore revenue) and Godrej Consumer (Rs.3,585 crore revenue); and by 2017, it is expecting to become India's fifth largest FMCG company. In fact, all other Indian FMCG companies are growing at a modest rate of eight percent, while due to aggressive advertisements, low pricing and reach of deep rural belts, Patanjali is growing at a breakneck speed of 100 percent+ year-on-year. Ghee is Patanjali's best-selling product contributing 35 percent of its sale; while healthcare contributes around 20 percent. They have around 500 products right now, ranging from cosmetic products to Ayurveda capsules.
There has been a change in the top deck of management at Steel Authority of India Limited, the country's largest public sector steel company, with new CEOs taking charge at two of its steel plants. While Arun Kumar Rath has taken charge as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Durgapur Steel Plant on March 24, 2016, Ashwini Kumar has taken over as CEO, Rourkela Steel Plant. Apart from Rourkela and Durgapur, SAIL also operates integrated steel plants at Bhilai, Bokaro and Burnpur, a stainless steel plant in Salem and an alloy steels plant at Durgapur. The leadership changes at the top come at a time when SAIL, like many other companies in the steel sector, is facing intense pressure on its margins due to the downturn in the steel market, a problem that has been compounded in the last year and a half due to a surge in cheap imports. Ratings agency CARE recently downgraded the credit rating for SAIL from AAA to AA+ due to subdued financial performance. In the nine-month period (April-December 2015), the company had posted a net loss of Rs.2,906 crore against a net profit of Rs.1,758 crore in the same period last year. Prior to his appointment as CEO of DSP, Rath was Executive Director (Projects) of IISCO Steel Plant, Burnpur, SAIL. Similarly, before his elevation to the top job at RSP, Ashwini Kumar was the Executive Director (Works) of the plant. A BE in Metallurgy from IIT, Roorkee, the latter had joined Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) of SAIL as a graduate engineer trainee in April 1980.
Shankar Garigiparthy was appointed as the country manager for India Lloyd's, a global player in the insurance and reinsurance market. Shankar will be responsible for market development, representing Lloyd's in discus- sions with regulators and building business relationships as Lloyd's seeks to grow its presence in India. Arun Agarwal, Lloyd's General Representative in India, will continue in his role providing expert guidance and counsel to Lloyd's. Garigipathy brings over 23 years' experience in financial services to the role and was most recently Regional Compliance Manager for Lloyd's based in Singapore. Prior to this, Shankar was Director of Insurance Supervision at Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, where he set up the regulatory framework for insurance companies in the QFC. In his early career, he worked for Lloyd's in London in roles including Senior Regulatory Officer and Capital Relationships Manager. "I am very pleased to have the opportunity to lead Lloyd's in India and to return to my home country at such an exciting time in the growth story of both India and Lloyd's," said Garigiparthy about his new post. Commenting on Garigipathy's role Kent Chaplin, Lloyd's Head of Asia Pacific, said, "Shankar has been instrumental in helping Lloyd's to grow in the Asia-Pacific region and I am delighted he will become Lloyd's Country Manager in India. His in-depth knowledge of Lloyd's and the insurance industry will be an invaluable asset as we seek to grow Lloyd's business in India."
Genpact Limited, a global leader in digitally-powered business process management and services, announced the appointment of CeCe Morken of Intuit to its Board of Directors, with immediate effect. "We are honoured to have CeCe join the Genpact Board. Given CeCe's experience in finance and accounting, new digital technologies and customer centricity, her contributions will be highly valuable as we continue to partner with Genpact's clients on their digital transformation journeys. The Board is looking forward to her insights," said Robert Scott, Chairman of the Board, Genpact. Morken serves as executive vice president and general manager of the ProCon- nect Group at Intuit. In this role, she leads the team responsible for working directly with the accountants who use Proseries, Lacerte, Intuit Tax Online, Canada ProTax, and related solutions to prepare clients' taxes. Before taking this position in 2013, she led Intuit Financial Services, the business unit that provided digital banking solutions for banks and credit unions. Prior to joining Intuit in 2002, Morken was responsible for sales of all products and professional services at WebTone Technologies. She also served as senior vice president for retail lending with Fortis, and spent 15 years in a variety of positions with John H Hartland Co. Morken is a graduate of North Dakota State University, with majors in economics and business administration, and attended the University of Chicago Booth's executive development programme. "CeCe is a recognised leader in design thinking methodologies which focus on driving impact for the end customer.
"I am extremely excited to add someone of CeCe's calibre and background to our Board," said NV 'Tiger' Tyagarajan, president and CEO, Genpact.
Pfizer India, appointed S Sridhar as their company's managing director, for a term of five years. The appointment will be subject to approval of the company's shareholders at the annual general meeting, a company statement said. Sridhar is a chartered accountant by profession with over 20 years of experience. He has served as Pfizer Chief Financial Officer for a period of seven years, and was appointed as ED. He has also concurrently led the company's distribution function for three years, and is at present heading Pfizer's anti-infective, cardiovascular and ophthalmology business. Aijaz Tobaccowalla, the erstwhile Pfizer India head, was offered a new global role with US-based Pfizer Inc, last year. At Pfizer, Sridhar has led a number of strategic initiatives that have significantly expanded the company's business footprint in the country.
by Joe Williams
