As the Happy New Year Jio’s free offer came to an end, assurance of best services came from none other than the company chairman, Mukesh Ambani, to over 72 million prime Jio users. “Jio will not be free. You will have to pay, but if you pay at least Rs. 402, you will get free services for three more months. The money that you paid will be used for a plan only from July 1. Jio prime offers many attractive benefits-the absolute best data tariffs in the industry, free voice calling, access to all Jio apps, and many more periodic surprises going forward,” said a letter from Mukesh Ambani. “I want to personally thank you for choosing Jio, and for being a founding member of the Jio movement. This is a movement to transform India, a move to empower and enrich each one of you with the revolutionary power and possibilities of Digital Life. I assure you that Jio will always be obsessed with serving you and delighting you every day. I am conscious that this is the largest migration from free to paid services in history,” it said.
Farokh N Subedar, Tata Sons’ Chief Operating Officer will step down from his post this September. Subedar, who is also the Company Secretary of Tata Sons, was given a year’s extension in 2016. Subedar, an old hand at Tata Sons, was the first to become the investment company’s COO. Tata Sons created the post of COO for Subedar in 2010 to reward him for his contribution towards managing the company’s investments and fund-raising programmes. Subedar will continue to be on the boards of other Tata companies such as Tata Investment Corporation and Tata Asset Management as a non-executive director. At Tata Sons, the retirement age for executives is 60 years, while that for non-executive directors is 70.
Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran is inducting financial specialists to re-configure operations at the $103-billion salt-to-software conglomerate. He has been reaching out to several investment bankers to build his own team at the group’s holding company, Tata Sons. This will see half a dozen investment bankers assisting him at Tata Sons, two of whom have been finalised, in the likes of Ankur Verma, from Bank of America, and Nipun Aggarwal, of Standard Chartered Bank. However, the sources kept the names of other veteran bankers close to their chest, as their appointments are under discussion. These investment bankers, experts in their fields, will oversee the Tata Group’s businesses in their domain areas and advise Chandrasekaran in formulating the strategy for consolidation and divestitures. Chandra, as he is popularly known, aims to bracket the group’s companies into industry clusters and then assign each of them to new recruits, who will monitor the financials and operations of the industry cluster assigned to them. This is the first time, Tata Sons under Chandrasekaran is creating a financial specialist role in the company.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi topped the list of the most powerful Indians again, while BJP president Amit Shah was at number two, in ‘The Indian Express Power List of 2016-17’. Arvind Kejriwal has slipped from 8th position to 33, Mayawati, who was at 30 last year is now at 50, and Lalu Prasad is down from 26 to 42. On the other hand, the Gandhis, Sonia and Rahul, may not show as great a fall, from 5 to 9 and from 9 to 10, respectively. Yogi Adityanath makes an entry at 8th position, for becoming the dark-horse Chief Minister of one of the largest states in India, Uttar Pradesh.
All those who are on the list are there because of the individuals that they are and because of the institutions and offices that they represent. But the rise in the list of Chief Justice Khehar, from 41 to 4, and the entry of Dipak Misra at 15 and Justice Lodha at 78, owes more to their institution—the judiciary—at a time when other checks and balances on concentrated executive power are waning. How these individuals act on their institutions, steer their course, will determine their ranking in next year’s list.
Malvika Sinha takes charge as the Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India after BP Kanungo was appointed Deputy Governor, in the recent moves by the apex bank of the country. Malvika Sinha, who was the was Principal Chief General Manager, Department of Co-operative Banking Supervision in the Reserve Bank, has been entrusted to look after the Foreign Exchange Department, Department of Government and Bank Accounts and Internal Debt Management Department, according to the RBI release. Malvika joined RBI in 1982 as a career central banker and served in the areas of regulation and supervision, foreign exchange and government and bank accounts in the bank. Malvika, who holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Bombay and has done her Masters in Public Administration, is also a Certificated Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. Kanungo, as Deputy Governor, will look after the departments of currency management, external investments and operations, government and bank accounts, information technology, payment and settlement systems. Kanungo also joined the RBI in 1982, has worked in several functional areas of the bank such as foreign exchange management, banking and non-banking supervision, currency management, government and bank accounts and public debt. Kanungo, a long-serving official with India’s central bank takes charge for a three-year term. He will replace R Gandhi as one of four deputy governors at the RBI.
With over 15 years in the financial services companies, Rahul Parikh takes over as the CEO of Bajaj Capital, the country’s premier investment services company. Serving in companies like Aditya Birla Money MyUniverse, Birla Sunlife AMC and ICICI AMC, Parikh would like to take forward the digital retail distribution brand at Bajaj Capital, the new online Mutual Fund Platform, as the company is on the verge of growing its revenue three-fold in the next four years by bringing global wealth management experts on board. Parikh, until recently, was spearheading the category creation of the Online Personal Finance Space in India through his role as Head, Aditya Birla Money MyUniverse. Welcoming Parikh, Rajiv Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Capital said, “We are pleased to welcome Mr Parikh on board. His experience in the digital domain will support the company’s strategy of combining face to face relationship with Digital Advisory, Transactions and Servicing.” And went on to add, “We are confident that Parikh’s business acumen will enhance our ability to achieve our business goals.’’
The youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate-Malala Yousafzai-was the first choice, as the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres picked up Malala to be a UN Messenger of Peace, the highest honour bestowed by the UN chief on a global citizen. In the process, she also become the youngest ever Messenger of Peace. Announcing this, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, Malala would focus on promoting girls’ education worldwide soon after she is officially designated. She has shown an unwavering commitment to the rights of women, girls and all people, said Guterres. The 19-year- old, who has been campaigning for the right of all children to education in northwest Pakistan, was severely wounded in a Taliban assassination attempt. Malala became the youngest ever Nobel laureate in 2014, when she was recognised for her advocacy of the right of all children to education. She was 14 years old then. Her courageous activism for girls’ education has already energised so many people around the world, said Guterres in a statement. Other messengers of peace include actors Michael Douglas and Leonardo DiCaprio, primatologist Jane Goodall and musicians Daniel Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma.
The much talked about the Kingfisher Villa in Goa, Candolim that which was for auction has finally found a bidder. The villa, which was owned by the bank-offender and industrialist Vijay Mallya was sold by a private treaty, to actor-businessman, Sachin Joshi for Rs. 73.01 crore. In an interesting twist, this 12,350 square foot villa, situated at Aguada, on Siolim road in Candolim, Goa, went through the hammer twice in recent times, as the consortium of banks led by State Bank of India tried to recover the dues from the liquor baron Mallya, who owed the banks over Rs. 9,000 crore. It was in October, 2016, the banks set a reserve price of Rs. 85.29 crore for the villa and later in December the same year the bank reduced setting Rs. 81 crore, which did not finder a bidder on both the occasions. However, with no buyers, the bank further reduced reserve price, at Rs. 73 crore, and managed to get Rs. 0.01 crore. Mallya absconded to the UK last May, after being declared a wilful defaulter by the banks for failing to repay the loans in connection to Kingfisher Airlines, which was grounded in the year 2012. Bankers’ consortium led by the SBI had taken possession of the former liquor baron’s villa in Candolim, which is worth Rs. 90 crore. There are number of cases which Mallya is embroiled with. Mallya was declared an absconder by a special court that deals with cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The villa, which is three acre in area, on the way to Fort Aguada in Goa, was legally owned by United Breweries Holdings, the parent of the airline. The lenders had taken physical possession of the villa in May 2016. The lenders’ bid to auction trademarks, which also includes the brand value of the Kingfisher logo, in August 2016, was unsuccessful. The reserve price for the brands has been set at Rs. 330 crore, which, incidentally is not even a tenth of the Rs. 4,000 crore valuations it commanded when offered as collateral.
Political allies of Australian Opposition leader Bill Shorten, who has been opposing the 21.7 billion dollar Adani Coal and Mine project, have extended support to the mining giant’s venture in Queensland. A day after Shorten opposed loan to the project, various Australian Workers Unions, regional mayors and Queensland Labor government sought approval for a commonwealth loan for Adani’s project and changes in native title laws. Shorten said he was “very keen to see jobs in mining”, but the federal labour opposed loan to Adani. “But I also have to sound this note of caution: we need the Adani project to stack up. It needs to stack up environmentally, it needs to stack up commercially. I haven’t seen the case made for the taxpayer to underwrite a billion-dollar loan to build a rail line,” he was quoted saying by local media.
It looks like a give and take policy, as Indian Bank and IDBI exchange their MD and CEOs. Kishor Kharat, former MD & CEO of IDBI takes over at the Indian Bank, while Mahesh Kumar Jain, formerly at Indian Bank will take control of IDBI Bank as its MD and CEO. Kharat, who was with the Union Bank of India from March 2015 was elevated as the Managing Director and CEO of IDBI Bank in August 2015. In his brief stint at IDBI Bank, Kharat served IDBI Capital Market Services, IDBI Asset Management Ltd and IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd as Chairman. He has held various responsibilities including Chairman of the Governing Council of the Entrepreneur Development Institute of India, Ahmedabad. He began his 37-year banking career from public sector Bank of Baroda, and was instrumental in the establishment of the foreign subsidiary of the bank in Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Kharat is a member of the Reserve Bank of India Committee on Financial Inclusion and is currently the Alternate Chairman of IBA (Indian Banking Association) Standing Committee on Risk Management and Basel Implementation. A graduate of Commerce and Law, Kharat also holds a degree in Master of Business Administration. He is also a member of the CII National Committee on Banking.
India head of equities business Prabhat Awasthi takes over as country head of Japan-based Nomura, while Vikas Sharma, who is currently head of India, has been elevated as head of Asia, excluding Japan. Awasthi, based in Mumbai will report to Sharma, and will be responsible for running Nomura’s India franchise spanning fixed income, equities and investment banking. Sharma took over from ToshiyasuIiyama, according to a release issued by the firm. In another move, the firm has also named Rig Karkhanis as Head of Global Markets, Asia excluding Japan, and Chairperson of Global Emerging Markets Executive Committee. Awasthi, with over two decades of experience in the Indian equity markets, assumed his current role at Nomura in 2011. He joined Nomura in October 2008 as head of equity research, India, from Lehman Brothers, where he held the same position. Awasthi was a founding member of Brics Securities institutional broking business which was acquired by Lehman Brothers in 2007. Previously, he also worked with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and CRISIL where he began his career in 1994. Awasthi holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and has completed his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.
Ajit Kerkar, Chairman of V Hotels, was awarded with the 2017 HICSA Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the industry. The award was presented during the annual Hotel Investment Conference- South Asia (HICSA) held at Grand Hyatt in Mumbai, recently. Hospitality veteran Kerkar began his innings as Catering Manager with the Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), best known as the operator of the Taj Hotels in 1962, and within eight years became the first professional MD in 1970. He has been the leading light for the Taj Group for over 35 years and still associated with it over the succeeding 29 years. An alumnus of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, UK, Kerkar was handpicked by Darab Tata, the younger brother of then Tata Group Chairman JRD Tata to join IHCL. During his incumbency with the Tata company, he transformed Taj from a single unit to a chain of 60 hotels. After his retirement from IHCL as Chairman and MD in 1997, he turned consultant. He is now associated with Cox & Kings, which is a product of his children Peter and Urrshila, for its hospitality play.
by Joe Williams
