Saina Nehwal joined Akshay Kumar, as the duo came out to exhibit their patriotism and devotion towards the country in general and CRPF in particular. London Olympics bronze medallist Saina donated Rs. 6 lakh- Rs 50,000 each-to the families of the 12 Central Reserve Police Force jawans killed in an attack in Chhattisgarh last week, while Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar donated Rs. 9 lakh to each of the families of the CRPF jawans. Saina, who turned 27 on March 17, said she is pained by what happened last week and this is a small contribution to the families who have suffered irreparable loss. The 219 Battalion’s CRPF soldiers were ambushed by Naxalites in Bhejji when the troops were guarding a road being built between the village and Injeram on National Highway 30. Akshay Kumar and Saina Nehwal came out with something many billionaires have not thought about, calling the attention of the bigwigs of the Indian corporate to applaud the work done by people losing their lives to keep our country intact. Akshay, who has always been portrayed as a common citizen on the big screen, donated Rs. 1.08 crores, which speaks about his regard for the army men. Akshay is known to be very actively supporting them. Earlier, the actor had donated Rs. 9 lakhs to the family of a martyred BSF jawan. Akshay had once said that medals are important for the army men but they also need money.
Jason Kothari takes charge as the new CEO of the India’s third leading e-commerce player, FreeCharge, the digital payments platform owned by parent company Jasper Infotech. He will take over from Govind Rajan, who had quit from his role early this year. Snapdeal also announced their plan to invest an additional $20 million in FreeCharge. Kothari, who also serves as the Chief Strategy and Investment Officer at Snapdeal will continue with his earlier roles, along with being added to the board of directors of FreeCharge. In the past, Kothari served as the CEO of Housing.com, prior to which he was the CEO and VC of Valiant Entertainment, a character entertainment company
Star India emblem will not be seen on the Indian cricket team jerseys, as Oppo, the mobile manufacturing brand struck a whopping Rs. 1079 crore deal as Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named them as the new sponsors for five years. Vivo, another mobile company bid for Rs. 768 crores, in the two-company race for the deal. Oppo emerged as the highest bidder scaling an all-time high figure. Oppo will pay Rs. 4.61 crores per bilateral match and Rs. 1.56 crores for an ICC event match. Sahara was the previous highest bidder for Team India sponsorship with Rs. 3.34 crores per match. Star India paid Rs. 1.92 crores per bilateral match and Rs. 61 lakhs for an ICC match. And it will be Oppo who will adorn the Team India jerseys of the senior, junior and women’s teams and the training gears of the teams. The current India team sponsorship deal with Star India ended on March 31, 2017. According to sources, there were nine companies who bought the tender document, but only two companies put in their bids, and BCCI hit the bulls eye as the deal was a five-time increase from the previous rights holder. The bidding process took place under the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA).
For Amazon it is not just the lower cadre who get a boost in promotion, even the top guns get their dueas their India head Amit Agarwal did, as global senior vice-president, which puts him among the $107-billion company’s second tier of executive leaders. His fast climb up the hierarchy is an acknowledgement of Amazon’s success in India. Agarwal, who was vice-president till now, will continue to remain in the country and head the India operations, which Amazon sees emerging as its second biggest market in a few years after its home market, the US. He was earlier an executive assistant and technical adviser to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. He has been climbing quickly up the executive hierarchy at Amazon. A senior vice-president is the third highest rank in Amazon, after CEO and president. Bezos serves as chairman, president and CEO. So Agarwal now is among the company’s second tier executive leadership team.
After failing to strike the deal last year, Anil Agarwal, an Indian mining billionaire, shelled out 2 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) for Anglo American Plc shares in the market. The full stake would equate to about 13 percent of Anglo’s stock, making Agarwal the second-largest shareholder after South Africa’s Public Investment Corp. It will give him a strong voice in the company’s strategy as the blue-chip British mining firm cements its recovery from a slump in commodity prices. While Agarwal said the purchase was a family investment and he won’t make a takeover bid, the brash Indian tycoon offered to merge part of his mining empire with Anglo American last year, only to be rebuffed. The London-based mining group, which is currently looking for a new chairman, is seen as a candidate for a potential break-up through splitting its South African assets from the global mining business. The purchase will be funded via a mandatory exchangeable bond issued by his holding company, Volcan Investments Ltd., and secured by Anglo’s shares. A representative for Anglo American declined to comment. Anglo American, a company founded by the storied Oppenheimer dynasty in South Africa more than a century ago, is one of the world’s top five mining groups, alongside BHP Billiton Plc, Rio Tinto Plc, Vale SA and Glencore Plc. Its key assets include giant copper mines in Chile, iron ore operations in Brazil and South Africa and De Beers, the iconic diamond producer.
From Mazagon Dock to Bermuda, is the story of Mahesh Madhavan, as this 54-year-old who started from being part of a team building offshore oil rigs at Mazagon Dock, to selling Santoor soap in smaller towns of Maharashtra, now is the Global Chief Executive of a global spirits giant and iconic Cuban spirits brand Bacardi in Bermuda. Madhavan will succeed Michael Dolan as CEO from April 2018, according to the world’s largest family-run spirits company, Bacardi. This would make him the second Indian to steer a global liquor powerhouse after Diageo appointed Ivan Menezes as the helmsman in 2013. In his 20-year stint with Bacardi, Madhavan has steered the eponymous rum giant across emerging markets like Philippines, Thailand, India, Africa and the Middle East. Madhavan’s family hails from Kannur in Kerala, but he grew up in Mumbai. He started his career with Mazagon Dock followed by Tata Electric. He went to SP Jain Institute of Management, before switching careers to the consumer goods sector, which also included a stint with FCB Ulka. He left Diageo to join Bacardi in 2007.
The Bollywood superstar Salman Khan well known for his clothing brand Being Human has made his next move, betting on a smaller screen-the smartphone. After his eventful run in mega hits with the likes of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Karan Arjun and Dabangg, Khan is dialling a raft of investors for his smartphone venture, in which he may take a majority shareholding directly or through his family. But, can he also make the same success with the smartphone, many wonder. But he’s currently building an operational management team with people from Samsung and Micromax, targeting an entry-to-middle market segment of the Android, Being Smart. It will cost below Rs. 20,000, and initially be sold online, and later through strategic partnerships with a few large cellphone and electronic retail chains. They may also be sold in Being Human stores. A small group of executives, along with members of the Khan family, are working out the details. The Being Human brand is licensed to Mandhana Retail Ventures, which operates dozens of outlets in various cities selling fashion accessories and apparel.
Jalgaon Collector Rubal Agarwal is the new Executive Officer of the Saibaba Temple Trust in Shirdi. A 2008 batch IAS officer, Agarwal was appointed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. She is the first bureaucrat to lead the trust headed by BJP leader Suresh Haware. An officer of the deputy collector cadre used to hold the office, but the Supreme Court directed the government to appoint an IAS officer as CEO. A former district collector of Ahmednagar, Agarwal will take charge from Bajirao Shinde.
Glamour and the corporate world have been synonymous, as evident with Parle, which added fizz to Frooti, signing up Alia Bhatt as the ambassador of the new drink. Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt, who endorsed Coca Cola until a few weeks ago, has signed a deal with Parle which launched a fruit-based brand Frooti Fizz. Parle Agro are of the opinion that the new product will be part of a wider strategy to double its revenue to Rs. 5,000 crores by 2018, especially from its flagship brand Frooti that is the second largest mango drink after Coca-Cola’s Maaza and Appy, which is now a Rs. 500-crore brand. Bollywood has always been associated with these corporates, and the names of the celebrities have been changing very frequently. Last year, Coca Cola dropped actor Salman Khan as Thums Up brand ambassador citing conflict of interest after TV reality show Bigg Boss roped in Parle Agro’s beverage brand Appy Fizz as a major sponsor for its Season 10 episodes. India is considered key to the cola giants’ growth at a time when they are contending with shifting tastes in its traditional markets, such as the US and Europe. In India too, the demand for healthier drinks is increasing faster in urban centres, with consumers switching to fruit-based beverages. With a large segment of Indian consumers shifting to non-cola carbonates from regular cola drinks, companies plan to grab a share of the changing market fuelled by consumer habits. According to a Euromonitor report, companies realised that the only way to gain share was by introducing new products.
Kumar Mangalam Birla will act as the Chairman of two firms. The Aditya Birla Group Chairman takes charge of the newly merged entity created by the merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India’s operations, also as the chairperson, as this two mobile firm combination will create the largest telecom provider in the country in the next year (2018). The merger of these two, both Vodafone and Idea Cellular will see over 400 million customers and hold 35% of market share. However, while the merger proposal has received a nod from Idea Cellular’s board, it is subject to several other approvals including from the Reserve Bank of India, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, Foreign Investment Promotion Board, and the stock exchanges, including from other countries. While Idea and Vodafone will both jointly control the merged entity, Vodafone will own 45.1% while the Aditya Birla Group will own 26%. The rest will be held by the shareholders, and this will give Aditya Birla Group the sole right to appoint the chairman of the merged entity, within its rights of appointing three directors for the company. On the other hand, Vodafone will hold the sole right to appoint the Chief Financial Officer while the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officers will be picked up by Vodafone and Idea, together.
With senior Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) officials saying that the regulator has jumped into far too many cases, and have been challenged at the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), this has left the new Chairman Ajay Tyagi a tough task on hand, of streamlining SEBI, which deserves credit for what it has achieved in the past 28 years. Marked as one of the best regulators in the country, this is no time for him to rest on its laurels, but to get down to work. SEBI is now in the so-called mature phase of the lifecycle of a regulator. It has nothing much original left to do, and is left mainly with the painful and thankless job of enforcing regulation. And with SAT’s challenge, it has become clear that it has bitten off more than it can chew. This is reflected in some cases where SEBI investigations have been shoddy and have been overruled by SAT. One leaf Tyagi can take out of his predecessor UK Sinha’s diaries is in resisting pressure from Parliamentarians on clamping down on certain market reforms. For instance, thanks to the efforts of a whistleblower, concerns about algorithmic trading have been raised in Parliament on a number of occasions. Many are of the opinion that Tyagi has his task cut out. SEBI’s responsibilities have risen in recent years, and it is responsible for new segments such as commodity derivatives. To be effective, Tyagi must ensure the regulator picks battles that are necessary and important.
In a bid to boost the company, the Japanese conglomerate Softbank has appointed its most experienced e-commerce veteran Kabir Mishra to the Board of e-commerce firm Snapdeal. This decision was taken in line with the hope that Snapdeal will hit profitability in the next two years as it undertakes a number of steps, including layoffs and moving away from non-core activities. The company had laid off 500-600 employees across verticals even as co-founder Kunal Bahl admitted to making the mistake of growing much before it could figure out the right economic model. Kabir has for many years been closely involved in managing Softbank’s investment in Alibaba in China, the source said. He has also been the anchorman in managing Softbank’s investment in Indonesian e-commerce major Tokopedia and had extensive involvement in South Korean firm Coupang, where Softbank invested USD 1 billion in June 2015.
by Joe Williams
