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In a land where cricket has a mass appeal, it is little wonder that the game has become a connector par excellence. Well, the platinum jubilee celebrations of The India Cements Ltd (ICL) held on November 12 in Chennai saw the Union Home Minister Amit Shah grace the occasion as chief guest. N Srinivasan, vice-chairman & MD of ICL, and Amit Shah have something in common between them. Shah was heading the Gujarat Cricket Association once upon a time. Srinivasan has been a cricket administrator for a very long time – both at the state as well national level. Shah recalled their sports connection and indicated that their relationship required no thanks between them. Shah’s rare presence at a corporate function threw a surprise of a different sort also. Former Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O Panneerselvam was seated on the front row! Is this a signal BJP will go along with AIADMK to fight 2024 general elections? Interestingly, Tamil Chief Minister MK Stalin who is very close to Srini stayed out and instead deputed his Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu to attend the function. And of course CSK Captain MS Dhoni was also seen hobnobbing with Amit Shah. If optics matter, there is enough to ponder over for everybody.
This is one of the oldest private sector banks in the country. It was incorporated on October 31, 1904. Twenty prominent citizens of Kumbakonam joined together to sign the Memorandum of Association. Initially, it preferred the role of a regional bank and built for itself a place in the delta district Thanjavur. The first branch was opened at Mannargudi in January 1930. It was included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, on March 22, 1945. It was originally known as ‘The Kumbakonam Bank Limited’. In April, 1965, two other local banks – The City Forward Bank Limited and Union Bank Limited – were amalgamated with it. Consequently, it was renamed as Kumbakonam City Union Bank Limited. In November 1965, the bank’s first branch in Madras was opened at Thyagaraya Nagar. Its first branch outside Tamil Nadu was opened at Sultanpet in Karnataka in September, 1980. That set the stage for its foray into other states. Its name was changed to City Union Bank in December 1987. Today, it has a deposit base of over Rs. 48,770 core (in the 1st quarter). With a net profit of Rs.225 crore in Q1 FY23, the bank is on a solid ground. Unlike Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, which just went public, the journey of this one has been fairly smooth. Well, longevity lends substance to the brand.
It is a pioneering enterprise of the independent era. It was born on February 21, 1946 when the World War was over and political freedom was around the country. It made a humble start with a cement factory at Thalaiyuthu, Tamil Nadu, an almost unmapped tiny village in Tirunelveli, which, over the years, grew to become a self-contained township at Sankarnagar. From a modest beginning in 1949 when Sankar Cement made its first appearance in the market, India Cements has grown in stature — from two plants with a capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) in 1989 to 10 cement plants with a capacity of 15.55 MTPA in five States. The company stood the test of time to become a strong player in the field. Well, N Srinivasan-led The India Cements has decided to celebrate 75 years of its birth. Why not? After all, the cement industry is by definition cyclical in nature. The celebrations are a testimony to its capacity – nay ability – to manage the cyclicality. The celebrations have been delayed by a year because of Covid-19 pandemic. If grapevine has to go by, Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to be the chief guest at the event, which will be held in Chennai in the first half of next month. Since 1989, Srinivasan has been in command. Looking at its remarkable journey, a big celebration is in order.
Corporates usually queue up to greet clients with gift hampers during Diwali. But this one has decided to do a different thing. Shriram AMC (Asset Management Company), a unit of the Shriram group, has launched “Deepti” this Diwali. It’s a financial initiative intended to have a lasting positive impact on the lives of girl children. Through Deepti, AMC will extend its assistance to select girl students who have great visions but struggle for funds to finance them. Shriram AMC had roped in Mumbai-based Katalyst – a non-governmental organization — to implement Deepti. Shriram AMC has identified two sets of beneficiaries under Deepti initiative. The Deepti will benefit college-goers from economically-challenged backgrounds. Katalyst will help Shriram AMC to identify and reach the target group who are good at academics but lack the relevant training and mentorship to face the corporate world. Typically, Shriam is seeking to invest in their training that will eventually help them in the future. The beneficiaries of Deepti in this category would be engineering college students with good academic profiles and a vision for their career paths. Deepti will also benefit school students who come from poor backgrounds. Deepti is a part of the Shriram group’s vision to work for the cause of women empowerment.
They are a supplemental channel of credit intermediation alongside banks. Over the years, the NBFC (non-banking finance companies) sector has undergone a major metamorphosis in terms of size, complexity and interconnectedness within the financial sector. The RBI has a scale-based regulatory framework to address the risk profiles of NBFCs. This covers a host of issues such as capital requirements, governance standards, prudential norms et al. The dynamics of the NBFC sector changes faster these days. This forces the banking regulator to be on the guard, and tweak the regulation when required. The RBI has now made it difficult for NBFC groups to escape tighter oversight. NBFCs that are part of a common group or are floated by a common set of promoters shall not be viewed on a standalone basis. Henceforth, the total assets of all the NBFCs in a group will be consolidated to determine the threshold for their classification in the Middle Layer. The group may have multiple NBFCs. If the consolidated asset size of the group is ₹1000 crore and above, then each of these companies will be classified as an NBFC in the Middle Layer, and, consequently, regulations as applicable to the Middle Layer shall be applicable to them. These guidelines have come into force from October 1. Is it a regulatory overload or a right move?
Lobbyists play an important role in the political space across the globe. Their services are widely used to influence key decisions. In the world of commerce, they take a different nomenclature. Influencers are setting the game for many big brands. Increasingly brands see influencer-marketing as one of the mainstream forms of digital marketing. The reason is simple. There are over 20 lakh content creators in India. Chennai-based Social Beat launched www.influencer.in, a marketing platform, to help brands create quality content and amplify the reach among the target audience by leveraging verified digital influencers across Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and the like. The platform has just released “The influencer marketing report 2022”. The report expects the influencer marketing industry to grow to Rs 2,500 crore by 2025 from Rs 900 crore in 2021. According to the survey, 61.2% of all brands recognize the power of influencer-marketing to tap into a newer audience pool to boost brand awareness. The survey finds 36.9% of brands rely on Instagram and 20.6% on YouTube for their dedicated influencer-marketing efforts. Facebook continues to be popular, with 18.7% of brands using it. About 50% of marketers indicate that they spend up to 10% of their digital marketing budget on influencers annually. Well, they are the change-driver of a new kind!
They don’t call themselves producers of vehicles any longer. They have now acquired a new term and status. Well, the country is witnessing the arrival of solution providers of mobility kind even as it is headed towards an increasingly greener automobile eco-system. They are coming in assorted formats – start-up, small, medium and big. Well, Nashik-based Revamp Moto is a start-up, and it came on scene in January 2021. Founded by Pritesh Mahajan, Jayesh Tope and Pushkaraj Salunke, Revamp Moto is on a unique journey. All three co-founders had worked on prior entrepreneurial ventures before synergising to form the vision of Revamp Moto. It is on a mission to design and produce an electric two-wheeler to enable enterprising micro-entrepreneurs to conduct business “on the go”. Revamp is working on adaptable and sustainable mobility solutions that are safe and affordable for the micro-entrepreneurs. The objective is to come out with a two-wheeler that is simpler for street hawkers, delivery agents, milkmen, vegetable sellers and others. Essentially, it calls for providing them flexibility to quickly modify their vehicles to their needs. This should allow users to switch between use cases of the vehicle in a matter of minutes. Revamp Moto is looking to build an adaptable electric two-wheeler that is modular, reliable, and connected. Whole new options are emerging in EV space, it appears.
The smart city concept is gaining increasing ground across the globe. Is it that easy to develop a smart city? Of course, it isn’t. Yet, the focus on creating smart cities is now acknowledged by policy-makers and city planners alike. What does it take to make a city smart? Well, it involves assorted actions. Ask Delhi-born Vaibhav Ghadiok, a pioneer in the field of robotics and AI (artificial intelligence) with multiple inventions and patents to his name. His latest invention has applications in building smarter cities, modernizing and optimizing traffic management that will have an impact on millions of people. He has architected perhaps the world’s first autonomous traffic management platform at Hayden AI (Silicon Valley, CA, US), which he co-founded and is an Executive VP of Engineering. The main objective of this platform is to clear bus lanes from illegally parked vehicles so that riders can reach their destinations more quickly, smoothly and safely. Significantly enough Hayden AI has landed a contract with New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to install 500 interior-mounted automated bus lane enforcement (ABLE) AI-powered camera systems. Can such automated traffic management be adopted in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai to improve bus speed and make vehicle traffic safer? Ghadiok should ponder, perhaps.
Freebies are the inventions of political parties to win elections. More often than not, the poll promises of political parties across the spectrum contain liberal freebies. Once in power, they are, however, faced with the reality of the financial situation: How do we fund the freebies? One is reminded of the proverb `robbing Peter to pay Paul’. This is not a sound strategy. Parties – especially the ruling ones – are discovering this. Well, the Tamil Nadu Government has now decided to mandate the use of Aadhaar identification service in Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, which gives free power to hut-consumers and farmers. Select categories of power users are given free supply to a limited extent. These are funded by the government of Tamil Nadu, and involve expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the State. A government order issued by the Energy Department of Tamil Nadu Government on October 6 now makes it mandatory for all those using or desirous of using the freebies’ schemes to provide proof of the possession of Aadhaar numbers. If they don’t, they have to undergo an Aadhaar identification process. Freebies are indeed a necessary tool to bring about social justice. But the state must know if they really reach the needy. Well, the Aadhaar linkage is inevitable to plug the holes in the power distribution system.
Ashok Patni IPS (Retd.) C B Sharma IAS (Retd.) and Brigadier Atul Mishra (Retd.) are on a mission mode. They have formed an informal group comprising mostly senior citizens from across the country to take on public issues. Former diplomats, journalists, social and consumer activists form part of this group. They have now moved IRDA (Insurance Regulation and Development Authority) seeking its immediate intervention to right a wrong that is causing serious hardship to common citizens. They are peeved that the insurance companies are using a notification issued during the Pandemic to deny crores of common citizens physical copies of their policies. The non-issuance of physical copies have come in the way of quicker settlement of their claims. This specific appeal comes in the wake of numerous insured policyholders, especially those living in the rural belt and in remote areas of the Tier-III towns, encountering extreme difficulties in getting their claim benefits from the respective insurance companies. The insurance companies, it is alleged, are taking advantage of an IRDA circular dated March 23, 2020. The circular was issued following the spread of Covid-19. Now that the Covid situation has eased, there is no reason why the policy-holders should not get physical copies of their policies. After all, the ecosystem for a paperless solution is far from fully developed.
With the public issue of one of the oldest private sector banks in the country oversubscribed, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) is set for an historic moment on September 15 as its shares get listed. TMB is, perhaps, among the last of the community-led private banks in the country to get listed. Indeed, TMB has come a long way since the quarrelling Nadar community members sold over 65% stake to the Ruias of the Essar Group in mid-90s. In the face of a strident RBI, the Ruias were forced to palm off TMB shares to serial entrepreneur C Sivasankaran in exchange of cellular licence for the Delhi circle. But Sivasankaran had to face hostility from the Nadar community and had to give in because it became a political issue with warring parties jostled among themselves to woo Nadar community, which is a crucial component of electoral politics in Tamil Nadu. Nearly 33% were bought back by the community members after a deal brokered by the then deputy prime minister LK Advani. After several twists and turns the TMB is on the cusp of making history. That could herald a new beginning for the over century-year-old private sector bank. Even post the public issue, the Nadar community will have controlling stake in the bank – though a distributed manner among members.
Time was when industry wage settlements were watched with quite an expectation from stakeholders across the canvass. Much water has flowed under the bridge since then. The economic context may have transformed significantly post the liberalisation. But this industry has been a role model in putting in place a consensual wage ecosystem. The cement industry has seen eight such settlements in the past. A little trip down memory lane will reveal how N Srinivasan, MD & Vice-Chairman of The India Cements Ltd, has been a fulcrum in hammering out an amicable wage accord. The industry is due for a fresh wage arrangement following the expiry of the accord in April this year. Indeed, the talks were held for two days some time ago in Chennai. But the discussions remained inconclusive. This time around, the unions – six in all – are insisting that the issue of temporary workers be resolved first before deliberating on a fresh wage pact. Only 18% of the workforce in the cement industry is permanent employees. The rest are temporary workers. Given this, the unions are worried over this increasing trend in the industry. Similar pay for similar jobs is what the unions are demanding now irrespective of the permanent or temporary tag attached to a workman. Rising cost pressures and demand instability are giving a new dimension to the IR (industrial relation) scene in the cement industry, it appears.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK), an IPL franchise, is going global with the landing of a licence to participate in the CSA (Cricket South Africa) league in the city of Johannesburg. The 1st edition of the CSA tournament is likely to take place in January and February 2023. As it spreads its wings, CSK also appears to be conscious of the need to beef up its backend infrastructure. It is in the process of creating a high-performance centre on its land at Navalur near Chennai for providing state-of-the-art training facilities to cricketers and sports persons. The training facility will also have a sports complex and a cricket ground for Chennai Super Kings to have their pre-match practice sessions. The company has initiated steps to create the infrastructure towards this initiative. CSK has, in fact, floated a fully-owned subsidiary Superking Ventures Private Limited (SVPL). Incorporated on February 2, 2022, it is headed by KS Viswanathan (Kasi). Significantly enough, this new subsidiary has already provided a loan of Rs 190.70 lakhs to contractors. CSK has launched a Super Kings Academy to nurse young talents. It has a tournament for corporations. It also has gotten into other franchise sports. Well, the newly-formed subsidiary could well be the fulcrum for all its new initiatives. CSK smells opportunities aplenty, it appears.
In the new world of competition, one has to keep running to stay where you are. Well, this realization has forced many to think out-of-box. What comes out of this new thinking? Fresh alliances of unusual kinds appear to be the order of the day. This Chennai-based two-wheeler major has just inked a partnership with a start-up promoted by the Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan. TVS Motor Company is picking up over 48% stake in a start-up promoted by Karthikeyan. NKars Mobility Millennial Solutions Private Limited (NMMSPL) is a pre-owned two-wheeler platform. TVS Motor will invest Rs 85.41 crore to get 48.27% stake in NMMSPL by way of primary and secondary investments. Founded in April 2020, NMMSPL runs a digital platform ‘DriveX’ which provides two-wheelers to customers on a subscription model for a flexible tenure and on a purchase model. The coming together of Narain Karthikeyan and TVS Motor indicates a tale or two. For one, this signals a convergence in the mindsets of GenNext. Perhaps Narain Karthikeyan and Sudarshan Venu, MD of TVS Motor, have lots in common in terms of thinking and approach. For another, the pre-owned two-wheeler segment is also seeing a significant shift away from the unorganised and moving towards the organized field. Well, the race for two-wheeler share is heading for an interesting phase.
In the fast unfolding dynamic environment, the key to success lies in the quick reconfiguration of the thought-process. A legacy mindset often proves to be a stumbling block to embrace any new idea. This is no rocket science for anybody to comprehend. An expert, nevertheless, can play the change-agent with finesse. Well, this is what this consulting firm Circular Angle is now doing at one of the top cement companies in India. Circular Angle, a decade old consulting firm which provides consultancy services to some of the big names in the corporate world suggested a few tweaks in the way India Cements sells its cement. This has seen this Chennai-based company slowly changing over to communication-oriented applications and making products for each application. This is reaping dividends at the ground level as seen from the success that the recently-launched CSK brand of cement is showing in the marketplace. The beneficial impact of the engagement with Circular Angle is now being sought to be extended to other areas of India Cements. From implementing new business strategies to ultra-efficient work processes, Circular Angle is ready to tackle any challenge and put its clients on the path to success. Well, a make-over is definitely happening to make this cement major a modern company.
The family enterprises are a dime a dozen in the city of Chennai. All of them have made a significant impact on the industrial landscape of Tamil Nadu. TVS, Murugappa, Rane, Chemplast and Apollo group have made enormous contributions to not just the economy of Tamil Nadu but the nation as a whole. With families expanding – through induction of new members via marriage – the dynamics of their management has changed. And, the metamorphosis has introduced fresh implications in the management of these family-run enterprises. The TVS – comprising four wings – has recently gone in for a legal separation. Coming as it did after internecine quarrels – that at times took legal overtones – the smooth formal legal separation in the TVS conglomerate is looked upon by other groups which too are experiencing some pressure or the other within. For the first time perhaps, the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, has come out with a comprehensive case study on “Splitting the century-old TVS Group – The Family Arrangement”. It’s a comprehensive effort, chronicling the history of the tension within the larger TVS empire, one of India’s oldest and prominent family business groups with more than 110 years of history. The study dwells on the framework for the split and highlights the governance issues in its wake. An insightful exercise in education indeed!
It was an iconic name once upon a time in the industrial landscape of Tamil Nadu. Today, it is a shadow of its past. Is there a way to salvage it? Well, some are still willing to get into it! A well-known player in the electrical industry, W S Industries, founded in 1961 by V. Srinivasan, was closed down in November 2018 due to assorted reasons. The demise of Srinivasan in July 2017, the intense competition from Chinese firms and the like had all short-circuited the company, and W S Industries had downed shutters of its factory at Porur, just on the edge of the city of Chennai, after a golden handshake with its 400-odd employees. Close to 31% shares changed hands a couple of months ago for Rs 115 million. On behalf of the acquirers, Saffron Capital Advisors Private Ltd has come out with an open offer for the shares of W.S. Industries. The acquirers – C K Venkatachalam, C K Balasubramaniam, Trineva Infra Projects et al – reportedly have expertise in infrastructure development. Indeed, W S Industries is set for a metamorphosis of an entirely new kind. Hopefully, under new owners there is hope for the company which runs two divisions: Insulator Business that manufactures porcelain Insulators and Turnkey Projects Division which offers Erection, Installation and Commissioning of Electrical High Voltage Lines, and Substations, and Line Quality Solutions.
It did poorly in the last edition of the IPL (Indian Premier League). That has not in any way brought down its brand equity, however. Proof of the pudding is in eating it is said. If at all any proof is required, here is the latest. For the first time perhaps in the annals of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings (CSK), its original franchisee owner, The India Cements Ltd (ICL), chose to leverage the CSK brand name and launched a new product sometime in the middle of March this year. India Cements launched on March 16, 2022, Conkrete Super King (CSK), a new brand of cement, across the country. Touted as a one-stop concrete solution – from foundation to roof, the launch of Conkrete Super Kings was followed by some aggressive digital campaigns, digital advertisements, hoardings, jingles et al. Well, the CSK brand of cement has sold one lakh tonnes since March when it was launched. The CSK brand launch has, coincidentally, seen India Cements beefing up its marketing apparatus. The N Srinivasan-led cement major has strengthened its marketing and sales force by recruiting a number of foot soldiers to give brand CSK a big push in the marketplace. A new-found focus is certainly on to give CSK cement an all-India visibility. Well, the numbers appear to be encouraging for the ICL mandarins.
Land is a touchy subject. Not surprisingly, any land deal in this part of the world draws more than cursory interest across the canvass. This time it belongs to the venerable Theosophical Society in Chennai. This institution at Besant Nagar in the heart of the city of Chennai has now penned a pact with an equally well-known name – Shiv Nadar Foundation. The society has decided to give the foundation 14 acres of its land on a long-lease basis to the Shiv Nadar Foundation. The Shiv Nadar Foundation is planning to set up a world-class K-12 school in Chennai, which, it claims, will be a progressive, ecologically-sensitive school with the highest international standards. Shiv Nadar Foundation is India’s leading philanthropic initiative by Shiv Nadar, founder of the HCL Group. It has established a chain of not-for-profit progressive schools in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. Today, these are among the most sought-after educational institutions in the area, and are consistently ranked among the top schools in the country. With their novel pedagogical approach, Shiv Nadar School nurtures young children into life-long learners and conscious citizens. The Society-Foundation alliance comes years after its lease pact with J Krishnamurthy Foundation-run school expired. In a state where anti-anything sentiment sprouts up at the drop of a hat, the society-foundation agreement has also come under intense focus.
The going has been tough for this one right from the word go. This one came to Tamil Nadu after two States – Maharashtra and Goa – spurned it. Finally, it found sanctuary in the Dravidian state. And, the Sterlite Copper smelter plant at Thoothukudi had run freely for over two decades under the dispensation of AIADMK and DMK – the warring political parties in Tamil Nadu. Problem began when it went in for expansion. A protest followed. Not just that. A police firing on the anti-Sterlite protesters saw 13 people killed. A panicked government ordered the immediate closure of the plant. Well, this has caught everybody in an inextricable position. Many jobs have disappeared and thousands of crores lost in the process. And, India slipped from its pre-eminent position in the global copperfield. Virtually caught in a cobweb, Anil Agarwal, promoter of Sterlite Copper has now chosen to sell the immobilised plant. The move has taken everybody off guard. Is it a positioning strategy? Or, is it a business decision? With Ford exiting India, the proverbial sword hangs over the heads of workmen at its Maraimalai Nagar plant in Tamil Nadu? Coming as it does in the wake of Agnipath imbroglio, the Sterlite Copper sale move has surprised everybody alike, including the authorities. Well, it is yet unclear how Sterlite wants to go about selling its assets in Tamil Nadu.
CSK is Dhoni and Dhoni is CSK. This is often reiterated by N Srinivasan, the owner of the Chennai franchisee of the IPL team. To be sure, Dhoni and Chennai have become inseparable. Not surprisingly, Dhoni has often said his last game in the highly popular Indian Premier League would be in his adopted home city of Chennai. His affinity to Chennai is all too apparent. And, his propensity to think out-of-the-box is legendary. It is no wonder that people across the spectrum view him a strategist par excellence. How else could one decipher his investment in the Chennai-based Garuda Aerospace, which is a DaaS (drone-as-a-service) provider. If highly-placed sources are to go by, the former Indian cricket captain has invested close to Rs 10 crore into Garuda Aerospace. Garuda has also signed up the World Cup winning captain as its brand ambassador. This is expected to fetch MSD Rs 5 crore. Besides bringing in Rs 5 crore, captain cool will be investing this fee also into Garuda. This makes his total investment into the Chennai-based company at Rs 10 crore. The investment of Dhoni is part of the bridge round, ahead of Garuda’s $30 million Series A round. He may have quit international cricket. Yet, Captain Dhoni remains a formidable brand to reckon with.
This IAS class of officials possesses the uncanny ability to stay relevant all the time. They don’t just disappear into the sunset after superannuation but, simply don a new avatar. Their utility never dissipates and, their experience in government simply can’t be brushed aside. Probably, they are capable of bringing to the table an entirely new perspective. It is no wonder then that two leading industrial groups of Chennai have drafted ex-IAS officers as chairmen for their enterprises. Sundaram-Clayton Limited (SCL) has appointed R Gopalan, a bureaucrat who served Tamil Nadu as well as the Centre, as its chairman and, another Chennai-based company Ramco Cements followed suit onboarding MF Farooqui, a retired IAS officer to the same post. Of course, both Gopalan and Farooqui have served on the boards of SCL and Ramco Cements respectively for a while now. But their elevation to the top slot in the organisations has forced many long-time watchers of these family enterprises to sit up and take notice. This is the first time that these industrial conglomerates in Chennai have adopted such a course. Larger benefit of having experienced bureaucrats as chairmen notwithstanding, the move is also seen as a step towards splitting the CMD post. At least in these two instances, it appears to be a case of striking two mangoes with one stone!
The South Side Story is always exciting. Family enterprises are a dime a dozen in this part of India. Some of them, especially in Tamil Nadu, are iconic names. These two industrial groups are definitely a name to reckon with, and they are trend setters in many ways. The TVS group, for instance. This venerable industrial house – comprising four families – has recently chosen to go their separate ways legally. With families expanding through fresh generational additions, the TVS group has done a remarkable job of succession planning. Now that they have separated legally, each family within the larger TVS tree has unhindered leeway to chart out their own individual paths. The Murugappa group, too, is another reputed name. It was the first to hit upon the idea of a group corporate board many summers ago, to delink the family from the management of their various enterprises. The Sanmar group under the late N Sankar took a cue from them. It was, however, a different matter that Murugappa junked the group corporate board a while ago. The Murugappa group, if grapevine is anything to go by, is now looking to emulate the TVS model of separation. Will the TVS model be the template for amicable resolution of succession planning in family businesses?
Social media has become so powerful a communication tool these days and yet, not everybody understands the scale of its utility. None, however, can afford to ignore it. Not surprising, all and sundry have made it a point to be visible on the social media platform. Take the case of the Vedanta outfit. Mired in a local political slugfest and caught up in a legal bind, Thoothukudi-based Sterlite Copper, a unit of the Vedanta group, is stuck in a pincer-like situation, being hammered from all sides. How to fight this tricky situation? Well, a new Twitter handle was set up in January this year, created by Sterlite Support Federation, a non-government and non-profit organisation. The federation was formed ostensibly to bring all the pro-Sterlite people across the country to “fight for the cause, thereby giving jobs to thousands.” With over 400 followers, this appears to be a determined counter to the anti-Sterlite lobby that works relentlessly to derail any efforts to revive the Sterlite Copper plant in Tamil Nadu, ordered to close down by the previous AIADMK regime following police firing that resulted in 13 deaths. The firing was ordered to disperse the anti-Sterlite agitators in the vicinity of the plant a few years ago. Can the micro-blogging site help check-mate anti-Sterlite sentiment?
The merger talk was in the air for years but, was put on the back burner over serious differences at the top. Finally, the merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank has happened. For the first time perhaps, a challenger of a fitting kind from the private sector appears to have arrived to counter the dominating State Bank of India. To that extent, the HDFC-HDFC Bank merger move is seen to herald a massive transformation in the Indian banking space. Will that edge the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) out of the picture? Not really, say experts. For, there are plenty in India who are still either unserved or underserved. Why did it take a long while for the two to merge? People who matter know it but, none prefers to go on record for assorted reasons. Perhaps, the merger plan was waiting for the HDFC Bank’s founder-CEO Aditya Puri to serve out his term in October 2020. If sources are to go by, some 5-6 years back Deepak Parekh had mooted the idea of HDFC merging with HDFC Bank to create a big bank but Puri was disinclined. He wanted the two entities to operate separately. Perhaps, with his exit the whole plan was brought out from the cold storage. The merger has indeed reconfigured the banking turf in India.
A private-public partnership saw a plant come up at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu to produce ammonia and urea. In the 50 odd years of its existence, Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation (SPIC) has had a chequered history even as the A C Muthiah-piloted group became ambitious. Big investments in PFY and PTA (Spic Petro) and in a new fertilizer facility in Dubai saw money going down the sink. Things turned for the better post 2010 with a changeover at the helm. Now, Muthiah’s son Ashwin, who heads the company, has gone all out to ramp up capacity of ammonia and urea to almost global scales. To improve margins, it moved from naphtha to natural gas for its feedstock. For fund infusion, Ashwin roped in AM International of Singapore besides talking to lenders for debt restructuring. Result: Thoothukudi-based SPIC has turned around with its topline and bottom-line looking healthy. Unfortunately, another well run plant in Thoothukudi Sterlite Industries, part of the Vedanta Group had to shut shop over environmental issues. For the nine months ended December 2021, SPIC has turned in heart-warming results with a PAT of Rs 132 crore on the back of a topline of Rs 1,600 crore, both representing a big leap from the previous corresponding period. While things are certainly looking up for SPIC, the road ahead still sports many signs of caution!
The Citi never sleeps. Citibank literally rode on this famous tag line for an increased mind share even as India was only just opening up to the world in the early 90s. The MNC bank left no stone unturned embarking on its aggressive business expansion. Somewhere along the line, however, the aggressive instinct for growth turned ugly and, Citibank went about issuing credit cards without any let or hindrance, to onboard lakhs of customers. Citibank had indeed re-laid the retail thrust in the Indian banking industry. Many in Indian industry did follow the Citi line but, somewhere along the way, Citi went overboard as an incident in the early 90s hit national headlines. In its zest to recover dues, its agents waylaid a top bureaucrat in the Central government on the Bombay-Pune Highway in a case of mistaken identity. The script went horribly wrong and Citi should have realised the `retail difficulty’ in India. It did slug it out for several seasons thereafter. Though it launched credit cards in India in 1987, Citi’s market share has slumped to 4% from 13% just a decade and, it has decided to sell its retail business to Axis Bank. After 119 years in India, Citi is restructuring and exiting the consumer banking business. Over the last few years was Citi out of sync in India?
Do you need a chairman for a company? You may not. But you need someone to chair shareholders’ meetings and to conduct the proceedings. Any board member may preside over and conduct such meetings. Nothing amiss about this. There are dime-a-dozen organisations where the top slot has remained unfilled for several reasons and, they are running quite well and this is not peculiar to any specific field. For instance, the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) is sans a president at this very moment. Since Amit Shah, the Home Minister of India, stepped down as its president in September 2019, the position at GCA has not been filled. As it is often said, life has simply moved on. And, the game of cricket has not stopped either! After all, cricket is bigger than individuals. There are no two views on that, however, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India is the parent body governing the game of Cricket in the State of Tamil Nadu. In December 2021 Rupa Gurunath, daughter of N Srinivasan of India Cements stepped down as president of TNCA after holding the reins for over two years. The heavens did not fall on TNCA because it is without a president. It’s business as usual. If GCA can run smoothly as before, why won’t the TNCA?
Since the advent of IPL (Indian Premier League) many seasons ago, the game of cricket has undergone a major metamorphosis. Cricket watching, too, has seen a whole lot of transformation. The IPL has also managed to swing on board a hitherto uninterested segment of the audience into binge cricket watching. Today, cricket watching, be it in stadiums or on television, has turned into a sort of family entertainment. Not surprisingly, everybody wants to have a share of cricket. The humungous audience interest has triggered a tiff between the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and the Madras Race Club (MRC). Under the old arrangement between the two, MRC was given a sizable number of tickets from TNCA. This arrangement came into force during the tenure of late MA Chidambaram when he was the president of TNCA reportedly, as part of a property pact. Was this an indefinite arrangement? MRC thinks so, however, TNCA feels otherwise. Even as the two are engaged in a quarrel over the longevity and interpretation of the arrangement, the state cricket association has decided to put an end to the ticket-sharing practice. TNCA’s move indicates that there was nothing indefinite about the practice. Well, the tiff has now spilled over into the legal playing field!
Late DC Kothari was a tall name in the industrial landscape of Tamil Nadu. And, Kothari Industrial Corporation Ltd (KICL), the agro input (fertilisers and insecticides) company promoted by him, an iconic entity. After him, the onus fell upon son Pradip D Kothari but, it hasn’t been a smooth ride. He had to fend off incursions from cousin, the late Shyam Kothari (son-in-law of the late Dhirubhai Ambani). Pradip Kothari did succeed in barricading KICL. That legal battle in the 90s did make national headlines then. Much water has flown under the bridge since then. KICL now appears to have undergone a major overhaul and, sports new names on the management list. Of course, Pradip Kothari remains the Chairman. But it is driven by self-taught entrepreneur Jinnah Rafiq Ahmed, who is now the vice-chairman & MD of KICL. Parveen Roadways, his key venture, does quite a lot of work for the Southern Railways showing his experience with the contracts business model. Will this push the well-networked Ahmed to opt for contract manufacturing of fertilisers sold under the brand name Horse? This could see the company do well and get re-listed soon after internal issues saw its share trading being suspended many moons ago. Hopefully, investors holding KICL shares would soon find a window to cash out.
There are certain advantages in being an unlisted, closely-held company. Owners of such firms, however, may encounter irritants coming their way. A few shareholders, with marginal holdings could prove to be an avoidable hindrance. One such unlisted, closely-held company is attempting to implement share consolidation ostensibly to ease the cumbersome procedural formalities in administration. It is also touted as a goodwill exercise offering small shareholders an exit option. In some instances, small shareholders do not see any goodwill in such an exercise. Rather, the move is viewed as an ill-intentioned initiative to get them out cheaply. The city of Chennai has seen Chettinad Cement, a well-known player in the bulk commodity space, delist its shares a few summers ago. But that has put its industrialist-shareholder AC Muthiah in a spot. If sources are to be believed, Muthiah is unable to get rid of his shares in the company at a price he considers equitable. The owner of Chettinad Cement appears to be playing it cool for now. The business, it may be recalled, is run by MAM Ramaswamy’s adopted son MAMR Muthiah who has an old score to settle with AC Muthiah, whom he had accused of usurping the company assets while his father was ailing. Alternatively, he doesn’t feel the need to acquire more shares, sitting comfortably as he is with a majority holding.
The world has indeed termed this as an abrasive action by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russia-Ukraine military face-off has certainly thrown the nation states across the globe in a tailspin. The ongoing war between the two hostile neighbouring nations is bound to have far-reaching implications for the international community. Nearer home in Chennai, this business group is keeping its fingers crossed. The abrasive action of Putin has put this abrasive maker in a tight spot. Carborundum Universal (CUMI), a Murugappa Group company, it may be recalled, acquired 84% of the ordinary shares of Volzhsky Abrasive Works (VAW), located in the Volgograd Region of Russia, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, CUMI International Ltd., Cyprus, for a consideration of around $37 million sometime in 2007. The Russian venture fetched CUMI a PBT of Rs 1,350 million during 2020-21. The company expanded the capacity of the nitride bonded silicon carbide facility at VAW. This was ostensibly done to provide the company the capability to address the increasing global requirement of nitride bonded refractories for non-ferrous and waste-to-energy applications. Well, the dynamics have completely changed now. With the two countries at loggerheads, a sense of uncertainty has gripped Indian business in Russia. An abrasive action has put this abrasive maker in a bind, it appears.
The fast unfolding drama around Chitra Ramkrishna, the erstwhile MD of NSE, has pushed the issue of Corporate Governance back into focus. Breached more than it is practiced, it is the most widely abused term in the corporate world. Instances are a dime a dozen of vociferous proponents of corporate governance gave it a go by to suit their own interests. A trip down memory lane reveals this hard truth. When co-founder NR Narayana Murthy returned to head Infosys again, he brought his son Rohan along with him! A revered personality in the corporate world, he subsequently turned activist of an unusual kind. He went ballistic in public against the Infosys board, triggering the ouster of chairman R Seshasayee. In like manner, it still remains a mystery how a member of the search panel for the appointment of a chairman for Tata Sons landed the coveted job for himself. The mystery deepened when Cyrus Mistry was unceremoniously thrown out subsequently. “How could I go against the Tatas?” an independent director put it succinctly. It is easy to preach but, difficult to practice. When it came to cutting his stake in his bank the banker, who headed the panel on corporate governance, prevaricated. Corporate governance appears to follow a “heads I win, tails you lose” maxim. NSE isn’t so unique experience after all.
This news comes as a much needed relief for many family-run enterprises. In a sudden about-turn, SEBI decided to make splitting of the posts of chairperson and managing director (CMD) by listed entities voluntary and not mandatory. A dozen such enterprises thrive in the Dravidian land. With one too many family members within such enterprises, splitting the CMD could have triggered considerable tensions within such enterprises. The consequences for them would have been a lot severe if it was enforced with a stricter fiat from the market regulator? What made the regulator do a U-Turn? One can debate the volte-face endlessly. One thing is sure, however. Regulation by force has often proved ineffective, and hasn’t really delivered the intended result. We have seen this happening in the unfolding Chitra imbroglio in the NSE. The entire governance structure at NSE appears to have gone for a toss. Will more rules solve the problems? They won’t. Be it in the re-nomination of the Maran couple on the board of Sun TV Network or the infamous Tata-Mistry imbroglio, corporate governance has been a consistent casualty. It reflects the erosion in the value system of society. The Venu Srinivasan and R Dinesh-led wings in the now partitioned TVS group have gone for non-family members to chair some of their boards. That’s refreshing. Laws often don’t get the right result.
In the corporate world, the phrase ‘All is fair in love and war’ has assumed a new meaning. Well, all is fair if rules are observed is now the touted line and reasoning given to explain away an ethically and morally unjustifiable action. Institutional shareholders voted against a resolution but found themselves unable to vote out the resolution in the face of a steamrolling majority held by the promoters. A classic case was when the resolution relating to the reappointment of the Maran couple — Kalanithi and Kavery — sailed through at the annual general body meeting of the Sun TV Network despite a majority of institutional shareholders voting against it. The Maran couple are the highest paid executives in India. They have taken home close to Rs 1,500 crore by way of managerial remunerations over the last decade. The promoter remuneration is now the subject of intense debate. Is it ethical for promoters to vote on a resolution pertaining to their own compensation? The whole issue has made a mockery of the so-called SEBI-ordained tight governance system. Like the RBI does, can’t corporations be told to make public disclosure of detailed minutes of meetings that clear the compensation paid to promoters? At least that will give the minority shareholders a clue about the logic for the high pay packets.
What holds a business family together? Just about everything. But, when it entails an extended family, then the task become more daunting. One Chennai-based conglomerate discovered the right formula many summers ago, to navigate the business cycles smoothly while also keeping the assorted wings of the larger family well and truly satisfied. The Murugappa group employs a house-keeping entity that has largely been instrumental in fairly compensating male members of the extended Murugappa family. They may all be differently talented but, when it comes to compensation, each of them (read every male heir) is treated on par. This entity came in handy especially when the group established a Murugappa corporate board and went in for a group branding in the ‘90s. The board members and others in the family were largely paid compensation through this unlisted house-keeping entity. A public limited outfit, this house-keeping firm doesn’t include any family members as directors. It was structured in such a way to avoid action under the MRTPC lens. A little birdie tells us that female heirs in the family aren’t fortunate enough to enjoy identical benefits. That may explain the cause for the open rebellion demonstrated by Valli Arunachalam, whose father MV Murugappan, former executive chairman of Murugappa group, expired a few years ago. This family enterprise makes for a fascinating story, all the same.
All of a sudden, the Chennai corporate landscape is buzzing with action. It is witnessing some significant transformation. Indeed, coming events are casting their shadows before them (read SEBI ruling on splitting the CMD post). For the first time perhaps in its annals, a TVS group company will have a non-family member as chairman. Come April 1, TVS Motor Company will see non-executive director Prof Sir Ralf Dieter Speth becoming its Chairman. Promoter Venu Srinivasan will then be designated as Chairman Emeritus. Several summers ago when the TVS group chose to dilute its majority holding in its then joint venture, TVS Whirlpool, Suresh Krishna voluntarily gave up his position as the Chairman of the joint venture. Well, much water has flown under the bridge since then. Venu Srinivasan’s son, Sudarshan, in the meanwhile, has been inducted into the board of Coromandel International, a Murugappa group company. Sudarshan has joined the board of Coromandel International as an Independent Director. In an equally significant development, Srinivas Acharya, former managing director of Sundaram Home Finance, a subsidiary of Sundaram Finance, is being roped in to join the board of Hindujas’ housing arm. An able hand with enormous experience in the field of housing finance, Acharya can provide the Hinduja housing arm with deeper insights. Indeed, the Chennai corporate world is undergoing a churn
When NS Raghavan, one of the seven co-founders of Infosys, was inducted as the Chairman of the Chennai-based Murugappa group, it took the entire corporate world by surprise. It was hailed as a path-breaking initiative by a family-owned group. Subsequently, the group set up a Murugappa Corporate Board. The ostensible reason for setting it up was to let the myriad group firms be run professionally. In 2020, the corporate board was dismantled. That has also taken many by surprise. Has the wheel come full circle? Tongues have, in fact, started wagging. Why was the two-decade old group corporate board dismantled after being in existence for two decades? Well, much water appears to have flown under the bridge since its formation many summers ago. The group itself has seen GenNext coming to the fore. Also, the group is under public glare with the daughters of late MV Murugappan alleging discrimination and seeking legal recourse for justice. Though the group comprises four families, there isn’t any complicated cross-holding structure in group firms. If grapevine is to be believed, there seems to be an informal demarcation of business among the varied families within. And, these sources suggest that each of them enjoys operational leeway with little cross-participation of family members in different group boards. Is Murugappa following the TVS model?
The Indian pharmaceutical industry witnessed many learning curves and has come a long way since the days of controls. Today, the industry wears an entirely transformed look. In the rough and tumble of the modern-day business world, which has to contend with intense competition, only an honourable few have managed to ensure the longevity of their respective businesses. Take the case of Chennai-based company Tablets (India), one of the early pharmaceutical ventures in the country. It was founded in 1938 by Sri Krishna Jhaver, who ventured into the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry and acquired the British-owned Oakley & Bowden Company based out of Chennai. While primarily set up to serve the healthcare needs of British Colonials, it was renamed Tablets (India). It boasts of some well-documented products in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical segments and is recognized as a pioneer in amino acids and probiotic therapy. A flagship company of the closely-held Jhaver Group, it is managed by accomplished professionals across various functions in the organization. It has five business divisions and three manufacturing facilities. How long could it have remained a family-owned enterprise? Not just that. The owners too, want to unlock value, thereby monetizing a part of their holdings. And what better way than to tap into the capital markets even as IPOs seem to be the flavour of the season.
What’s in a name? Everything, some will say. So what, some will argue. At least in the Dravidian land of Tamil Nadu, the name and personality still count. With the business landscape undergoing rapid metamorphosis by the day, the conventional wisdom of placing faith on name and personality, however, is wrought with risk. If proof is required, you have. Take the case of the Shriram group and Star Health, the country’s first private sector stand-alone health insurance company. The Shriram group has long ceased to be a Chennai conglomerate. Known largely for truck financing, Shriram is also known for its chit business. Founded by R Thyagarajan (popularly known as RT), the group has since changed a lot. Today, it is driven from Mumbai by the Piramals. Not many know that the Shriram of today does not really belong to the city of Chennai. Star Health, too, is known by its founder V Jagannathan, an insurance industry veteran. That states such as AP and TN rolled out health cover for the citizens largely due to his connection was well known. Star too has changed. Once the IPO is over, Star will be vastly different. Perhaps the people of Chennai can’t really claim Shriram and Star to be their own!
Why is everybody eyeing the cement industry? N Srinivasan, the vice-chairman and managing director of The India Cements has an interesting take on this. The industry has something “macho” about it. That is an irresistible attraction, he says. To be sure, the cement scene in Tamil Nadu at least heads for some exciting turns. It is a market where the price is holding up – and often heads north – despite excess capacity. Surely, this can’t go unnoticed by enterprising minds. Dalmia and Ultratech have already gotten into action mode. Dalmia is planning grinding units in Coimbatore, Chingleput, and Virudhunagar districts. Well, it already has cement plants at Dalmiapuram in Trichy and Ariyalur. Ultratech, on the other hand, has a grinding unit at Arakkonam and a cement plant in Reddipalayam (acquired from Dharani several summers ago. It is now planning expansion by putting up grinding units at Karur, Tuticorin, and Ranipet. These two have indeed chosen strategic locations for their proposed grinding facilities. Their move is bound to intensify action on the ground. Product innovation and savvy marketing could hold the key for the players in this part of the world to secure their position and expand in a market that is set for intense competition. Surely, CSK and Dhoni could come in handy for India Cements in the unfolding cement turf!
The yellow jersey, nay CSK (Chennai Super Kings), has deeply embedded itself in the heart and mind of fans across the canvass. Ipso facto, that has also become an easy target. A trip down memory lane would reveal how the CSK matches were shifted out of Chennai over the Cauvery river water dispute with neighbouring Karnataka. That a sporting event was forced out of Chennai told a tale of its own for the world investing community. Such episodes during the previous regime had had its fall-out on the investor sentiment. So much so, Tamil Nadu lost the AK47 project of the Russian company to Uttar Pradesh. Much water has flowed since then. Nothing much, however, appears to have been learnt. It is now the turn of the main Opposition in Tamil Nadu – the AIADMK – to use CSK to take a dig at the Stalin government. Using the proverbial “fiddling while Rome was burning” analogy, a top AIADMK functionary questioned Stalin’s participation in the India Cements’ function to celebrate IPL cup victory of CSK in the just-concluded edition. When the rains have engulfed the state, how could Stalin participate in a celebratory event? Life is not about this or that. It is all about this and that. Is it cricket to indulge in such diatribe?
Covid has changed the world upside down for many. The distance between the home and the office has, in many cases, simply shrunk drastically. One part of the house has become a regular office. And, this has thrown new business opportunities. The housing sector at least is witnessing a demand re-jig. Safety and WFH (work-from-home) compulsions are forcing home-buyers to opt for bigger flats. Sensing this, French glass maker Saint-Gobain has trained its focus on providing downstream solutions in India. Towards this it has chalked out an ambitious capex plan of Rs 2,500 crore. It has already set up a separate business unit for home solutions to satiate the emerging needs of home buyers. And, it is promising to offer customized solutions for every individual client. This calls for a sense of agility and spirit of entrepreneurship. To be sure, a highly technology-oriented and end-to-end digitized independent entity is now anchoring Saint Gobain’s foray into this downstream exercise. A game-changing initiative, this move reflects a new strategy in thinking for this predominantly material manufacturer. The end-user-focussed unit has already hired over 300 people with diverse skill sets to grab a reasonable share in the $25 billion home solution pie. End-user, nay home-buyer, terrain isn’t going to be an easy nut to crack. But Saint-Gobain has chosen to do so. India is shining for this French group, it appears.
Working in a corporate environment is one thing. But being a part of the government is quite another. Perhaps, he got a bit carried away initially. And, that got him into one controversy after another. Well, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Dr P Thiaga Rajan, popularly known as PTR, appears to have understood the difference. He doesn’t stray into avoidable terrain now. He has chosen to be a lot more measured and focused. He made the right noises when he met the Press on October 1, 2021. A huge quantum of public money is lying outside the treasury. The task is to identify and bring it back into the Treasury. His efforts seem to be bearing fruits as close to Rs 2,000 crore of unused funds were identified by a task force set up by him. He is not against freebies (for the poor and the backward). But he is all for accounting, even the freebies. Handing out freebies without any responsibility is clearly not his way of doing things. The government order on gold loan waiver gives a clue or two to his thinking. The benefit should reach the deserving. And the system should be capable of doing this. This is what he is striving to do. Well, the thought-process is laudable.
What is in a name? Reputation. When this TVS firm wanted to stop accepting deposits, there was a huge public outcry. If you don’t, where will we go? That was the reaction of senior citizens then. For Chenniates, Sundaram Finance Ltd (SFL) has been a part and parcel of their life. SFL and Chennai are inseparably entwined. SFL has been hosting the annual Mylapore festival for very many years now. And, it has been holding a mikeless concert every first Sunday of a month for over a decade now at the Nageswara Park to provide kids a platform to demonstrate their skills. Covid-19 however has changed everything. In the new normal social distancing world, SFL has its job cut out. It is on a mission mode. It wants people to get fully vaccinated. It has launched a music video ‘Oosingo’, composed by singer Anirudh Ravichander and written by lyricist Arivarasu Kalainesan. Celebrity-influencers too figure in the video. “We are in the last mile in our fight against Covid,” says Harsha Viji, executive vice-chairman of SFL. Well, this TVS company has the experience in providing last-mile connectivity in the vehicle finance segment too. It has budgeted Rs 10 crore for the public service programme. Trust, thy name is SFL.
ICAI President Nihar N Jambusaria has stirred a hornet’s nest. In a signed message published in the October issue of The Chartered Accountant journal, he exhorted the members of India’s apex body for chartered accountants to adopt Hindi in their work and interactions with other stakeholders. For him, Hindi is a rajbhasha (official language). And, he wants his fellow CAs to promote Hindi. His appeal has virtually kicked up a row with many senior CAs, especially in the state of Tamil Nadu, warning the ICAI chief of the adverse fall-out of his action. Should ICAI be promoting a language? Or, should it be guiding the CA fraternity as a whole? The debate has already picked up steam on social media. Predictably, his move has drawn political reaction as well. A sitting MP from Madurai, S Venkatesan, has taken to Twitter to condemn the ICAI chief. “May be it (Hindi) is your mother tongue but not for all,” he tweeted. He has already dashed off a letter to ICAI, opposing the move. “Tamil Nadu would resist imposition (of Hindi),” Venkatesan asserted. The CA fraternity in Tamil Nadu is seething in anger. ICAI could live without such controversy. And, Jambusaria could have avoided playing to galleries (on September 14 being marked as Hindi Diwas). He reportedly clarified: “It (Hindi) is a choice… If you want to write in whatever language you want, there is no restriction on anybody.”
Indian Premier League (IPL) has proved to be a heady mix of sports, entertainment, and business. Not surprisingly, there is quite an interest around it. Sanjiv Goenka-led RPSG group is new franchisee for Lucknow and PE player CVC Capital for Ahmedabad. Indeed, the sport has changed. Is it cricket? Well, the debate has been on for a long while now. But N Srinivasan, the indefatigable former boss of Board of Control for Cricket in India, has a different take on his IPL team. “We look at CSK (Chennai Super Kings) as a pure sport,” says Srinivasan, who is the vice-chairman and MD of ICL (India Cements Ltd). ICL owned the IPL franchise team CSK from inception in 2008 till 2014, when the ownership was transferred to Chennai Super Kings Ltd. “CSK is a sport and never a business for us,” he makes it clear. Srinivasan is the fulcrum around both ICL and CSK. “I think my personality has rubbed off in CSK,” he says. Both at ICL and BCCI, he had endured the worst. “A less strong person would have wilted,” he feels. “Our reaction to victory and loss is the same. When we win we are happy in our heart. We don’t need to go out and blow the trumpet,” he said. Indeed, CSK will remain an inseparable part of Srinivasan.
Sankar Cement and Coromandel Cement of India Cements have been part of some of the country’s iconic structures. Sankar Cement is associated with the building of Idukki Dam in Kerala, Pamban Bridge in Tamil Nadu and Swami Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari. Infosys Building in Bengaluru and Rajiv Gandhi International Sports Stadium in Hyderabad were built with Coromandel cement. Well, Sankar and Coromandel are trusted brands in the cement industry for many summers and belong to 75-year-old India Cements Ltd (ICL), a leader in south India. With such history behind it, the ICL management, led by N Srinivasan, vice chairman & MD, is now engaged in the process of reconfiguring the brand strategy. The time appears to have arrived now. With the Chennai Super Kings having a dream run in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), team ICL chose to celebrate Platinum jubilee of the company with Captain Cool Dhoni & his boys and the dealers in a live engagement. This is perhaps the first and unique exercise to leverage CSK to promote India Cements, which is the principal sponsor of Chennai Super Kings. The focus now is on creating a distinct and strong corporate brand identity for India Cements. Iconic cement brands are to be promoted around this corporate brand among dealers and influencers. Well, the pitch is clear indeed!
When things are going down, this regulator too decides to head south! Well, the RBI, yet again, has chosen to look for talents in the south to reset a couple of recalcitrant NBFCs. This time around, the RBI has brought in two stalwarts from the south to assist the newly-appointed administrator of Srei Infrastructure Finance and Srei Equipment Finance. The boards of these two were superseded by the RBI on October 4, 2021. R Subramaniakumar, administrator of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL), and TT Srinivasaraghavan, former MD, Sundaram Finance, have been included in the three-member advisory committee to help Rajneesh Sharma, ex-Chief General Manager, Bank of Baroda, as the administrator of these two companies. Since November 2019, Subramaniakumar, former MD & CEO Indian Overseas Bank, has been an administrator of DHFL. After many twists and turns, the debt resolution plan submitted by Piramal Group for DHFL has been finally approved by the National Company Law Tribunal. Subramaniakumar, in fact, was driving IOB during its critical phase. A few days ago, IOB came out of the Prompt Corrective Action framework. IOB was placed under PCA in 2015. Srinivasaraghavan is a highly respected personality in the NBFC world. And he piloted Sundaram Finance for many years with a sense of dedication and unalloyed commitment. The south has a nice side to its story after all.
The 100-year-old Thoothukudi-based Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has always made for a heady cocktail. Incorporated as Nadar Bank Limited on May 11, 1921, it underwent a name change on November 27, 1962. Since then, it has come to be known as Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Limited. Promoted by the Nadar community, the bank has often found itself at the centre of news. The community bank hit national headlines post-liberalisation in the 90s when the Ruias of the Essar group acquired TMB shares by cashing in on the internecine quarrel within the promoter-groups. But the Ruias faced resistance. And, the Reserve Bank of India, too, was cool to their entry into the banking space. The acquisition of TMB shares by the Ruias has time and again kicked up intense political battle in Tamil Nadu with parties of all hues, picking cudgels on behalf of the Nadar community to reclaim TMB. The Ruias exited by selling the TMB shares to serial entrepreneur C. Sivasankaran as sale consideration for buying the Delhi cellular licence from him. He, too, had to exit after a peace was brokered during the Vajpayee regime. Ramesh Vagal-led (former Pepsico India head) group chipped in to buy a part of TMB shares. Still mired in legal rows, the bank has now plans to go public. A community bank is getting a new tag now.
The over 100-year-old TVS group is going through a transformation of a significant kind. It just underwent a smooth reorganisation. This saw four promoter-families aligning the ownership of different companies with the arms of the family that managed them. While this caught many by surprise, something else – a big one, at that – too is quietly happening at the TVS. And this has largely gone unnoticed. Is it becoming a truly Indian MNC conglomerate? Be it manufacturing or financial services, the foreign investors’ presence is fast evaporating. Global majors have all cashed out of the group by selling their holdings to the respective TVS companies. It all began in mid-90s with Abex Corporation exiting Sundaram Abex which became Sundaram Brake Linings. Later, Suzuki quit the two-wheeler joint venture which became TVS Motor. TRW, too, went out of Lucas TVS. In the last one year, the group saw Brakes India and Wheels India buying out the stake of foreign partners. Also, foreign partners in the insurance, housing finance and mutual finance ventures of Sundaram Finance have exited. More recently, TVS Supply Solutions has bought out the Canadian pension fund, CDPQ. Now, the only prominent JV in operation is Delphi-TVS, a JV of Lucas TVS. Group patriarch Suresh Krishna always talked of Indian MNCs. Well, TVS is on track.
TRENDS & VIEWS
Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack
It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.