Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally joined the ranks of prominent global figures in the world famous wax museum, Madame Tussauds. Besides London, his statues will also be installed in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Dressed in Modi's trademark cream-coloured churidar kurta and sleeveless jacket, the statue strikes a namaste pose. The wax figure reportedly took four months to create and cost #150,000 (Rs.1.5 crore) each. We must agree that Modi's statue looks quite life-like, compared to the other statues of Bollywood stars and celebrities at the wax museum.
So, what did Modi think of it?"What can I say? As far as art is concerned, the Madame Tussauds team is exceptional at what they do. What Lord Brahma does normally is what the artists there are doing. Today, I had an opportunity as the prime servant of my people to meet my wax figure," Modi was quoted as saying at the Madame Tussauds release. Describing him as a "hugely important figure in world politics", the museum had said the Indian Prime Minister had given the museum's team of artists and experts a sitting at his residence in New Delhi earlier this year.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. chairman Jack Ma overtook Dalian Wanda Group Co.'s Wang Jianlin as Asia's richest man after the e-commerce giant's financial affiliate raised a record amount in its latest round of fundraising. Ma added $4.3 billion to his fortune on Tuesday after his Ant Financial latest deal, expanding his wealth to $33.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him ahead of Wang's $32.7 billion and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's $29.5 billion. Ma's lead among Asia's billionaires could be short lived as Wang reorganises his entertainment business and seeks to relocate his property unit's listing in search of higher valuations in mainland China -- deals that could affect the property-to-entertainment mogul's fortune. Alibaba's billionaire chairman owns 6.3 percent of Alibaba and 37.9 percent of Ant Financial, whose full name is Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group Co., after the fundraising. Ma is also said to be planning to take Ant Financial public in what could be China's largest IPO since 2010.
Bhaskar Das has quit following his transfer to another Essel Group entity, according to Zee Media Corporation, in a BSE filing. He resigned as Chief Executive Officer of the company with effect from April 20, 2016, it added. Das, who was president of media group Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL), had joined Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group as chief executive officer (CEO) in 2012. He was given the responsibility of driving the group's news business, including the digital properties. Zee Media Corporation is one of the largest news networks in the country with 10 news channels in six different languages, Mumbai edition of DNA newspaper and digital properties like zee news.Com and dnaindia.Com.
Three Indian origin persons have been named among the top 100 highest-paid CEOs worldwide, with PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi and LyondellBasell's Bhavesh V Patel making it to the top ten list compiled by Equilar. Chemicals company LyondellBasell Industries' top executive Patel was ranked sixth on the list with a total compensation of $24.5 million, while Nooyi, the chief executive of PepsiCo, was ranked eighth on the list with a total pay of $22.2 million. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, was ranked 26th on the list of 100 highest-paid CEOs with a total compensation of $18.3 million. The overall list was topped by Mark V Hurd and Safra A Catz of Oracle with both boasting a total compensation of $53.2 million. Others in the top 10 include Robert A Iger of Walt Disney ($43.5 million), David M Cote of Honeywell International ($33.1 million), General Electric's Jeffrey R Immelt ($26.4 million), Randall L Stephenson of AT&T ($22.4 million), Rupert Mur doch of Twenty-First Century Fox ($22.2 million) and James P Gorman of Morgan Stanley ($22 million).
Airline executive Christoph Mueller has resigned from his position as CEO of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), less than a year after he was brought on in an effort to salvage the ailing carrier. Mueller cited changing personal circumstances in his decision to step down, the BBC reported. He will remain in the job until September. The German-born Mueller arrived at Malaysia Airlines last June after years of working in the airline industry in Europe, where he was credited with revitalising the Irish carrier Aer Lingus. Experts were hoping he would deliver the same magic touch to Malaysia's state carrier, which carried the burden of substantial financial losses and two catastrophes-the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March 2014, and the violent downing of Flight 17 just four months later. He effectively reinvented the airline as a much smaller regional carrier to compete with budget airlines like Air Asia. Earlier this year, MAS ended its service between Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam-the route of the doomed Flight 17-and is planning on selling off larger aircraft like the double-decker Airbus A380.
Amazon has inducted Indian managing director Amit Agarwal into founder & CEO Jeff Bezos's S-team, a set of senior (the S stands for senior) leaders who have a direct line to Bezos and play a crucial role in important decisions that the $107-billion e-commerce behemoth makes. In an email to select employees last week, Bezos said, "Please join me in welcoming Amit to S-team. Amit and our India team are doing remarkable things. Amit and his experience in India will be a key resource for all of us on S-team as we work to figure out what it is to be a true global company," he said. Confirming the development, Amazon India said, "Agarwal's inclusion in Amazon's S-team is a recognition of how excited the Amazon leadership is with our progress and how committed we are in delivering on our ambition to transform how India buys and sells."Under Agarwal's leadership, Amazon has captured a significant market share of India's e-commerce market in less than three years of commencing operations. In December last year, Amazon issued advertisements in leading newspapers in India saying Amazon.in had become the most visited e-commerce site in India (the web, not mobile apps). The claim was backed with data from ComScore that showed Amazon had seen 30 million unique visitors in October, ahead of rivals Flipkart (around 27 million), Jabong (around 21 million), and Snapdeal (around 18 million). The US online retail giant has also made significant strides on the mobile app, though it remains well behind Flipkart-Myntra on that platform.
Frank Schloeder, currently director (marketing) at BMW India has been appointed as acting president of BMW Group India, according to the company. The outgoing president Philipp von Sahr will head BMW Niederlassung in Berlin, Germany. Schloeder completed International Studies in Business Administration from the University of Munster, Germany and Montpellier Business School, France. He began his career with BMW in France in 1997. Schloederfaces tough competition from other luxury car makers, especially Mercedes which has been growing at high double digits in the last few quarters. BMW has not disclosed India sales numbers for over a year. Philip von Sahr, president, BMW Group India, will be moving to Germany to head the BMW Niederlassung (translates into branch) in Berlin. BMW India launched several updated models in 2015 in a bid to retain its market share. We expect the luxury brand to have quite a few updates for this year as well. BMW India started off 2016 by launching the new gen 7 Series flagship sedan at the Auto Expo early this year. Shortly after the launch, the 730Ld variant started rolling out of the company's CKD plant in Chennai. The main task for the new president would be to improve sales and regain lost ground in the intensely fought Indian luxury car segment.
Jaspal Bindra, former Asia Pacific chief executive at Standard Chartered Bank, joins the board of the financial services group Centrum Capital. K Sandeep Nayak, executive director and chief executive (broking), said the group was finalising a five year business plan. This would require growth capital. The span of activities Centrum group is active in includes investment banking - equity and debt, wealth management, institutional broking and foreign exchange. On the institutional business side, the group plans to expand its investment banking activity, said Nayak. Chandir Gidwani, founder and promoter, Centrum, said the group was operating in a highly dynamic and competitive business environment. Bindra's strategy and execution track record is exactly what Centrum needs for growth in the future, he said.
People magazine gave actress Jennifer Aniston the title of the 'World's Most Beautiful Woman'. She may be one of the most beautiful women in the world but actress Jennifer Aniston says she did not have much sense of style in her high school and looked like a goth nightmare. The 47-year-old actress credits her glam squad for teaching her everything. Over the years, the super fit star has transformed her style but she still keeps her makeup regimen simple. Aniston declared herself very, very flattered by the honour. She counts women like Gloria Steinem, Lauren Hutton and Brigitte Bardot as her beauty icons. It's the second such cover for Aniston who also received the accolade in 2004. Last year's winner was Sandra Bullock.Aniston attributes her famously toned body to spinyoga classes three times a week.
Rahul Johri was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He will be the first person to take over the post in the Indian cricket board. Johri may be an unknown name for the common man but the BCCI has surely done its homework before handing over such a big responsibility to one man. Johri worked with Discovery Networks Asia Pacific as Executive Vice-President. The last eight years of his tenure he served as the head of India and South Asia operations. Under Johri, Discovery Networks grew to a 11 channel bouquet, including lifestyle, kids and Hindi entertainment channels along with three high-definition channels. He will continue to work with Discovery as a senior advisor until the end of 2016. Johri will be based at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai and will report directly to the Honorary Secretary, Anurag Thakur. Johri's appointment comes after the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee report, which suggested a complete overhaul of the BCCI including the creation of the post of CEO. The BCCI, however, had said the creation of the CEO and CFO posts was part of an initiative called 'Project Transformation' aimed at improving governance, and operational and financial processes. He will be responsible for the smooth functioning of operations, stakeholder management and building robust strategies for further promoting the sport. He takes up his new role from June 1, 2016.
K Ramkumar, executive director (ED), in charge of the Operations Group of the bank and President of ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, has decided to take an early retirement, the bank stated. Ramkumar is replaced by Vijay Chandok who has been appointed as ED. Chandok has been working with the bank for 23 years and has worked in different capacities in corporate banking, project finance, retail assets, and rural and inclusive banking groups. Ramkumar, the former head of human resources at the lender was currently in charge of operations and president of the bank's non profit ICICI Foundation. "Ramkumar has opted for early retirement to pursue his personal interests in the area of leadership consulting, research and training," the bank said. Chandok joined ICICI in 1993, in different roles in the corporate banking, project finance, retail assets and rural and inclusive banking, the bank said. He is currently, in charge of SME (small and medium enterprises) and international banking at ICICI. Chandok is likely to be in charge of commercial banking, SME and international banking. He will be join Rajeev Sabharwal (in charge of retail banking), Vishakha Mulye and NS Kannan as fourth executive director on the bank's board.
By Joe Williams
