Surviving close calls
The summons from the CBI in connection with the disproportionateassets' case against YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy is onlythe most recent of the controversies N. Srinivasan, 67, has beeninvolved in. The CBI has alleged that India Cements, of whichSrinivasan is Managing Director, invested in Reddy's variousbusinesses and in return received undeservedly large waterallocations from the Andhra Pradesh government for its plantslocated in that state.
In fact, Srinivasan's earliest controversy dates from 1979, whenhe quit India Cements in a huff following differences with the thenManaging Director K.S. Narayanan. He rejoined only a decade later.Then, in the late 1990s, he was suspected of being a benami (proxy)for close friend, DMK leader and former union minister MurasoliMaran, in various deals. He has also been accused of forming acartel of cement players from the South to inflate prices.
It is in his capacity as President of the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI), however, that Srinivasan is internationallyknown. Given India's current clout in the game due to its hugefollowing in this country, he has been called the most powerful manin world cricket today. But here too there have been controversies:notably over the fact that India Cements owns one of the teamsparticipating in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Chennai SuperKings, which won the tournament in both 2010 and 2011 and was afinalist this year. Questions have been asked about whether there isa conflict of interest between being an IPL franchise holder andpresident of the BCCI, which conducts the tournament.
Srinivasan's friends say the controversies obscure his manyvirtues. But his ability to take the controversies in his stride isalso the reason for his success. He is ambitious, aggressive, readsthe market well, and never gives up. 'He hates losing, even if it isa game of golf,' says one.
These traits were evident in the 1990s when, realising IndiaCements needed to be a large player to survive, he went on anacquisition blitzkrieg. He outbid Gujarat Ambuja Cements more thanonce to acquire capacities, and even acquired the erstwhile RasiCements in a hostile takeover. When he took charge as India Cements'MD in 1989, its capacity was 1.4 million tonnes. Today, it is 14million tonnes.
But there have been tough times too. In 2000/05, soon after hisspate of leveraged acquisitions, cement prices crashed. IndiaCements incurred huge losses; unable to service its debt, it wentthrough a debt recast and had to sell many of its assets. 'I learnta lesson: never grow in a fractured market using debt,' he says. Heis a hands-on manager: despite his deep involvement in cricketadministration, he remains fully up-to-date on his company'sproduction and dispatch volumes. He is highly religious and swearsby vastu shastra and numerology. All his cars have registrationnumbers ending in '9001'.
-N. Madhavan
Harvard's New Health Monitor
Swati Piramal, 56, Director of Piramal Healthcare, has beennominated to the 30-member Harvard Board of Overseers, one of thetwo boards governing Harvard University. It has been a year of highsso far for Piramal, who was also awarded the Padma Shri in April forher contribution to trade and industry. A long roster ofdistinguished names have served on the same Harvard board, includingformer US president John F. Kennedy and former vice president AlGore.
Piramal is a Harvard alumna herself, with a Master's in PublicHealth from the university. She also has a medical degree fromMumbai University. She hopes her experience at Piramal Healthcare -which she and her husband Ajay are keen to make India's leading drugdiscovery company - will help bring an international perspective tothe board. 'I have fond memories of my classmates and through thiselection, connected with them again after many years. I also hope tobring back the best of Harvard to India,' she told BT.
-Geetanjali Shukla
Bridging nations
Delhi's scorching heat did not appear to bother Enase Okonedo,Dean of Lagos Business School in Nigeria, as she closely examinedthe murals on the walls of the Red Fort. She was in the capitalrecently to attend the annual conference of the Global BusinessSchools Network being hosted by IMT Ghaziabad. Also Chairperson ofthe Association of African Business Schools, she is forthright aboutwhat Indian companies in Africa should be doing.
'They have to focus on the development of the local people whowork for them,' she says. Mother of an eight-year-old girl, she isboth an art aficionado - with an impressive collection of paintings -and a voracious reader. She says the best advice she ever got wasfrom a teacher at her business school in Barcelona, Spain. 'Readevery day, even if it is for half an hour,' she was told, and shehas tried hard to follow it. A favourite book is Our Iceberg IsMelting by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber, a fable about how tomanage change.
-Dearton Thomas Hector
Olympian Project
Being the IT partner for the biggest sporting event on earth isno joke. The challenge gets bigger when the event concerned, the2012 Summer Olympics in London, starting July 27, is slated as the'smartest' Olympics ever. French IT major Atos SA is the partnerand, according to Milind Kamat, CEO of its Indian arm, people willfollow the Games on 8.5 billion devices, including 100 millionsmartphones. 'You cannot shift milestones in a project like this,'he says. India will account for a tenth of the 600-strong force Atoswill send to London for IT support. Mumbai also houses Atos's secondbiggest team of engineers working on the event - after Barcelona,Spain.
-G. Seetharaman
Goodbye INSEAD, Hello Cornell
After 22 years at INSEAD, the leading business school in France,in various teaching capacities, Soumitra Dutta, 48, is making across-Atlantic move to take over as the first Indian-origin Dean ofthe Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, CornellUniversity, in eastern US. While at INSEAD he acquired a globalreputation as editor of its Global Innovation Index. Dutta, whograduated in Computer Science from IIT Delhi, has lived overseas forthe last 26 years, but visits India often. Will the visits continue?'Probably instead of once in three months, now I will be able tovisit only once in four months,' he says. Discussing the increasingnumber of Indians at the highest levels of global management, headds: 'Globally, India is becoming mainstream.' He believes Indiansare better than many others at handling diversity.
-Anand J.
