What You Didn’t Know About Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani with his wife Nita

BY SASHA LALCHANDAN  in Luxpresso

When it comes to billionaire Mukesh Ambani, we all know everything about his professional life.

 He is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries and is worth a staggering $27 billion. 

We look beyond his world famous business acumen.

Here are five things you didn't know about Mukesh Ambani.

Jet Setter: The business magnate gifted his wife a $60 million Airbus plane for her 44th birthday. The jet reportedly has been customised to possess an office, hi-end music systems, satellite television and wi-fi. In addition there is a master bedroom and a bathroom with a range of showers.

Car Story: Having always had a penchant for European cars, Mukesh Ambani owns 168. He favours the Mercedes, theBentley and the Maybach, his most expensive car to date. He was one of the first people to bring it into the country for an unbelievable Rs 5.25 crore.

Antilla: It is said home is where the heart is. But this 27-storey home has a lot more than heart. It consists of a ballroom, three helipads and a swimming pool. Considered to be the world's most expensive home, it cost Mukesh Ambani $1 billion. Too bad 'bad vaastu' is preventing him and his family from moving in. 

Jungle Adventure: Last year, the entire Ambani family holidayed at Kruger National Park in South Africa. It offers a range of private and luxurious stay packages that assure you the utmost comfort and privacy. Mukesh Ambani, a self confessed wildlife lover has stated in an interview that holidaying in places with 'clean air' and those that are 'in the midst of nature' make him feel like he has entered another world altogether.

Movie Buff: When it comes to entertainment, Mukesh Ambani doesn't ask for much. This billionaire is an avid movie watcher and not being able to go to a theatre doesn't stop him. In order to satiate his movie craving, Ambani has created, on the 8th floor of his new house, a massive 50 seat theatre. 

Image courtesy: Reuters

Now open: Overseas capital for unlisted firms

Shishir Sinha :BL :NEW DELHI, SEPT 27: 2013

The Government has lifted the curbs that prevented unlisted Indian companies from raising funds abroad.

Such companies can now list on foreign bourses without doing so in the domestic market.

The move will help corporate entities pay overseas debt as well as acquire companies abroad, without buying dollars at home.

Unlisted companies are those whose shares are not traded on stock exchanges. Before August 31, 2005, such companies were permitted to tap the overseas markets and get listed without any prior or subsequent listing here. Companies such as Sify and Rediff listed on American exchanges using this route.

After the curbs were imposed, some companies, such as online travel agency MakeMyTrip.com, set up a subsidiary abroad to raise funds and got that entity listed.

On Friday, the Finance Ministry said that the option to list abroad will initially be available for two years, on a pilot basis.

The Ministry has set some conditions for the use of this facility. One requires such companies to file a copy of their financial statements with domestic regulators. They will also have to be compliant with rules governing foreign investments by Indian companies.

ANALYST VIEWS

Dhirendra Kumar, MD of investment research firm Value Research, termed the Finance Ministry’s move as correcting an anomaly.

Anish Thacker, Tax Partner with EY, said the measure will allow Indian firms access overseas capital markets and possibly reduce their offshore interest burden. “Some safeguards and conditions have also been cited, which are understandable,” he added.

Mayuresh Joshi, Vice-President, Angel Broking, said the proposal will benefit companies that have significant overseas operations and that have taken on foreign debt to fund those businesses.

It will assist them in bridging the volatility in currency movements.

“Statistically, India’s external debt stands at $390 billion, of which, short-term debt (including residual maturity) stands at $172 billion. In a scenario of extreme rupee depreciation, such short-term debt adds to the interest-servicing pain of most corporates that have borrowed abroad,” he explained.

Rahul’s outburst: A watershed moment in Indian politics?

FP :Abhay Vaidya 46 mins ago

Barely two days before his outburst against the UPA government’s ordinance to counter a Supreme Court order disqualifying MPs and MLAs convicted in a criminal case, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi‘s body language had become a talking point among Pune’s editors and senior journalists.

Rather unusually, Gandhi had held a 90-minutue long informal exchange with a select group of journalists at the Balewadi stadium in Pune. 

This was the second leg of his Maharashtra tour and Gandhi took everyone by surprise, especially the top editors in Delhi, who later came to know that he had spoken extensively and informally on a range of subjects.

The issue of the controversial ordinance came up during that chat with journalists and Mr Clean’s cryptic response amply indicated that he disagreed with the government’s position.

 On hindsight, it was disappointing that none of the assembled journalists asked him about his brother-in-law Robert Vadra‘s controversial land deals in Haryana, especially as Gandhi seemed to be in a mood to talk.


During a Pune interaction with editors and journalists, Rahul Gandhi’s body language suggested that he did not see his political inexperience as a handicap but as an asset. Reuters

During a Pune interaction with editors and journalists, Rahul Gandhi's body language suggested that he did not see his political inexperience as a handicap but as an asset. ReutersDuring a Pune interaction with editors and journalists, Rahul Gandhi’s body language suggested that he did not see his political inexperience as a handicap but as an asset. Reuters
As the interaction came to a close, it became amply clear that this was a new avatar of the young scion of the Gandhi dynasty: not the same, indecisive, clueless, reluctant and inaccessible Congress vice-president that everyone spoke about.

Instead, Rahul Gandhi‘s body language suggested that he did not see his political inexperience as a handicap but as an asset, as much as his father Rajiv Gandhi did. He seemed to represent the same generational impatience with things going wrong in India, as did his father. Recall how Rajiv Gandhi was also welcomed into Indian politics as “Mr. Clean” who offered hope to a young generation.

There was a new air of confidence and freshness about Rahul Gandhi at the Pune interaction. “He is intelligent and not dumb as projected by the media,” was how one senior journalist present at that gathering reacted.

Rahul appeared genuinely warm and well-meaning and did not resemble the typical politician. As a part of his media strategy to woo journalists, Gandhi has been known to grace the weddings of relatively junior reporters on the Congress beat in the capital. In Pune, he shook hands with all the 25-odd journalists, exchanged a few words with each one of them and within two days, his media cell mailed these memorable pictures to them. Rahul did something similar with the police constables on duty around him and got pictures taken with them.

These tid-bits apart, the image that came across was that of an earnest and well-meaning Rahul Gandhi who had no airs about him. More importantly, his body language clearly indicated that he was now ready to take charge and willing to lead the Congress into the 2014 general elections.

With his outburst on the ordinance negating the Supreme Court’s verdict on convicted MPs and MLAs, Rahul Gandhi has pitched himself as the Congress’s prime ministerial candidate for 2014 as decisively and as controversially as Narendra Modi did.

If Modi’s elevation rubbed party patriarch LK Advani the wrong way, here was Rahul Gandhi virtually mocking at the entire UPA cabinet led by prime minister Manmohan Singh. His caustic condemnation of the ordinance is a snub not only to Singh but also to others in the cabinet such as Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Law minister Kapil Sibal and Information & Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari.

The 43-year-old Gandhi’s outburst on the ordinance marks a watershed moment in Indian politics because it decisively signals his arrival and emergence as the new face of the Congress party as it prepares for the 2014 general elections.

This moment signals decisively that the Gandhi dynasty is intact and the baton is ready to be passed on from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to her son. As over the past six decades, the Congress continues to be under the spell of the dynasty which has withstood rebellions right from the time of Kamraj during Indira Gandhi’s era down to Sharad Pawar in the Congress under Sonia Gandhi.

There is no question of any such rebellion against Rahul Gandhi who, like others in the dynasty, brings certain clear advantages to the Congress. The charge of being “autocratic” which is being applied to Narendra Modi, applies as much to Rahul Gandhi because it is his voice that will prevail over that of all others. Decisiveness will no longer be a trait seen in NaMo alone as RaGa too is beginning to show the same characteristic.

Unlike in the BJP which has a prominent anti-Modi faction articulated most eloquently by Sudheendra Kulkarni, the former aide of LK Advani, Rahul Gandhi is neither tainted nor handicapped by any such opposition. Like Modi for the BJP, he has emerged as the game-changer for the Congress as India hurtles towards the 2014 polls.

Outgoing SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri leaves poor investors, rich legacy

Sangita Mehta, ET Bureau | 25 Sep, 2013, 10.10AM 

In the uncertain world of Indian banking one thing is certain — any state-run bank which gets a new chairman will report a jump in provisioning in the very first quarter of new leadership and will see its profits erode and stock value dip. The standard answer to explain such a phenomenon used to be that the balance sheet had to be cleaned up.


However, that should be the least of the worries of the top four contenders to succeedPratip Chaudhuri as the chairman of State Bank of India when one of them steps in to steer the nation's biggest bank next month. Chaudhuri's ascent to SBI's throne in 2011 was no different from the experience of many public sector bank chairmen, when he had to set aside Rs 4,445.27 crore which had dragged the net profit for the March quarter earnings 99% to Rs 21 crore.

"We provided for a salary increase but we did not provide anything for pension on the argument that approval hadn't come," says Chaudhuri. "We (SBI) provided zero (pension). This is the worst thing that can happen. There was an elephant in the room. But we did not see it or chose not to see it. That was the most damaging thing for the bank."

Most chairmen carry on the older tradition and leave an equally dirty balance sheet for the successor to clean up. But not Chaudhuri. For quarter ending June 2013, State Bank of India's net profit was Rs 4,298.56 crore when he made provisions of Rs 600 crore for pension liabilities and said similar provisions need to be made in the next few quarters.



That led to the stock tanking 3.4% on the day of earnings. However, it will eliminate a more serious fall when the next quarter earnings are released.

"I want my legacy to be such that (nasty provisioning) should not come back again. We should correctly and rightly anticipate and not push things under the carpet," says Chaudhuri. "Investors understand that there are good years and not so good years, and that could be due to a variety of reasons. But this company is at least disclosing correctly what it is doing."

The legacy of the 23rd chairman of the SB may not just be about preparing for future shocks, but it will include solid customer care in a world where private sector is stealing a march over the public sector banks.

"He came in with a broom and continued to broom throughout partly because the economic condition was not in favour and partly because he did not create adequate income to compensate for higher provisions," says Hemindra Hazari, head of equity research at Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities.

"It is ironic that when he took charge there was inadequate provisioning for pension and the ghost returns when he departs as an LIC report revealed that the life expectancy of Indians will go up. Fortunately, he has not left to his successor to do the clean-up." Chaudhuri ended up as the right man at the wrong time.

His predecessor OP Bhatt's often used maxim that 'all bad loans are made in good times' must be ringing in his ears.

"He tried to control asset quality but the macro-economic condition did not support him," said Santosh Nayak, chairman of IFCI and former DMD of SBI.

State Bank of India may be bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown as bad loans are piling up. The stock has lost more than 40% since Chaudhuri took charge in April 2011. But the silver lining is that all other public sector banks are worse than SBI.

It is still the best performer among the PSU pack.

Although not as half as flashy as his private sector peers, Chaudhuri has pushed the giant elephant ahead in terms of customer friendliness, though it lacks many of the proactive approach of private banks. The master stroke was when Chaudhuri scrapped the pre-payment penalty for home loan borrowers even before the central bank mandated it for all lenders. That created an enormous amount of goodwill among customers who always viewed private home loan lenders as short-changing them.

It may just be a normal practice for any new bank branch that is opened to be air conditioned. For SBI it is like the Indian Railways ensuring clean platforms at railway stations. Imagine its 14,902 branches from as far away Yairipok in Manipur to Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir now being able to do business as in Nariman Point, Mumbai.

While most other public sector banks are losing the so-called low-cost deposit (CASA or current account savings account) to private sector rivals, SBI is the lone state-run lender that has lured customers' deposits which helped it keep the lending cost low.

SBI has also bid goodbye to lazy banking by pushing executives out of their comfort zones, and motivating them to reach out to clients, especially the small and medium segments.

"You cannot run the SME and corporate business as a factory," says Chaudhuri.

"In a home loan if you borrow and do not visit the bank for 25 years, nothing happens as it debits you regularly and that is all right. But if it is a small-scale industry or a business, some day they have to go to the bank saying 'my guarantee limits are falling short' or 'I urgently need an overdraft.'

We need someone to listen to them." At SBI, it is not the general manager sitting in Mumbai who handles clients from Nagpur, or Bhopal anymore, but the zonal offices in these smaller cities.

Although the entire sector is facing the problem of bad loans, Chaudhuri has done well to mitigate a part of the problem.

"He made the balance sheet stronger by making adequate provisioning for pension and bad loans," says SS Ranjan, who served Bhatt as chief financial officer of SBI. "He also improved capital efficiency without raising capital (69 basis points) tax efficiency. He brought a lot of improvement in the operational area and decentralised power." SBI's effective tax rate fell to 30%, from 42% earlier.

Making SBI efficient to the levels of a private sector bank is a Himalayan task, but there are areas where there could be improvements.

"At the business-per-employee level, yes we did not optimally utilise our manpower," says Chaudhuri. "We are downstreaming most of our routine activities.

And, I think, some of our facilities are bloated, like head offices and administrative offices." SBI with 2.28 lakh employees will remain unwieldy for anyone to achieve levels on par with nimbler private rivals. But the way has been shown by Chaudhuri.

Many institutions after decades of glory stare at an abyss because of their reluctance to change or adapt to new reality. But Chaudhuri with a few small, but vital initiatives has set the ball rolling.

Google 15....Happy Birthday Google !

A Google-themed birthday cake is seen at the house where Google was founded on the company’s 15th anniversary in Menlo Park, California. Google turns 15 today. Stephen Lam/Reuters

FP : Reuters :28 sep 2013

It’s been 15 years since Google turned our online lives 

upside down. It’s hard to imagine any work getting done 

these days without a quick trip to the many Google 

services.

 Here are pictures from Google's birthday celebrations.



Amit Singhal, senior vice president of search at Google, introduces the new ‘Hummingbird’ search algorithm at the garage where the company was founded on Google’s 15th anniversary in Menlo Park, California. Stephen Lam/Reuter



A logo of Google’s ‘Hummingbird’ search algorithm is pictured at the garage where the company was founded on Google’s 15th anniversary in Menlo Park. Stephen Lam/Reuters

Susan Wojcicki, senior vice president of Ads and Commerce for Google, speaks at the garage where the company was founded on Google’s 15th anniversary in Menlo Park, California. Stephen Lam/Reuters

Google celebrates 15th birthday with animated piñata doodle, overhauls search engine

ABHISHEK LAW/ PTI :BL  :SEPT 27:2013

    

Tom Hanks character Forrest Gump is know to say: Life is a box of chocolates. You never know what you are gonna to get.

Similarly, Google doodles are a surprise. One never knows what to get unless they log in to the search-engine's home page.

It's Google's 15th birthday today and what better way to celebrate than a playable doodle.

A children's favourite and a must at every birthday party; today's doodle is a swinging piñata that needs to be hit to score candies (read points).

For PC and laptop users, the swinging piñata is hit with the space bar. Touch phone and tablet PC players need to swipe the screen from left to right to play, rather hit the piñata.

Google is celebrating its 15th birthday with a piñata doodle appearing on its home page.

September 27 is celebrated as Google's birth date, even though the company was incorporated a few weeks ago. It was founded at a garage in Menlo Park, California by Larry Page and Sergey Bin.

The company is today headquartered in Mountain View in California. The co-founders’ landlord was Susan Wojcicki, Brin's sister-in-law.

According to international media reports, Wojcicki sold the home to Google in 2006 and it is now maintained as a mark to Google's beginnings.

A Google+ page meanwhile included a photo album of the original home search page, and collected dozens of birthday wishes.

Cleaner, simpler Google Search

The US-based search engine has already announced that it has updated its search algorithm in order to make it more responsive.

Since 1998, the tech world has changed dramatically and Google said its search engine has been constantly improved.

“The world has changed so much since then: billions of people have come online, the web has grown exponentially, and now you can ask any question on the powerful little device in your pocket,” said Google Search chief Amit Singhal in a blog post.

“You can explore the world with the Knowledge Graph, ask questions aloud with voice search, and get info before you even need to ask with Google Now.”

Singhal said the change includes “a simpler, more unified design on mobile devices.”

“You’ll also notice a new look and feel for Google Search and ads on your phones and tablets,” he added.

“It’s cleaner and simpler, optimised for touch, with results clustered on cards so you can focus on the answers you’re looking for.”

Danny Sullivan of the tech blog Search Engine Land said the upgrade of main search engine is based on a new algorithm with the code name “Hummingbird,” which he said is “especially designed to handle complex queries.

Bravo Rahul! Critics take note, Pappu passed with distinction

 FP :by Akshaya Mishra Sep 28, 2013

Give it to Rahul Gandhi.

 For once in his nine-year long political career, he has given some reason to be applauded.

 His plainspeak on the ordinance overruling the Supreme Court verdict on the convicted legislators will now be subject to many interpretations; 

there will even be political motives ascribed to his dramatic move,

 but none of it would take the shine off the fact that he stood up for a good cause and 

upbraided the government headed by his own party. 

Such action requires courage, 

lots of it. 

We have not seen that from any leader from any party in recent times.

Rahul has provided enough hints of impatience with the erratic ways of the party earlier, but he has rarely spoken up against the government which looks ever eager to court controversies and the bad press. 

He has done it and how!

“The ordinance is a complete nonsense, it should be torn and thrown away…I personally think what the government is doing on the ordinance is wrong. It was a political decision, every party does it, and there is a time to stop this nonsense…It is about time that political parties stop making these type of compromises. If we actually want to stop corruption then we cannot make these compromises,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi at the Delhi press club yesterday. PTI

Harsh words these, from someone who along with his mother – Congress president Sonia Gandhi – is seen to be remote-controlling the party and the government. 

That this outburst should come in public is interesting. 

Was it an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment action? 

By all indications no.

Younger leaders in the party, the members of Team Rahul, have already expressed their reservation about the ordinance in public for sometime.

Union Minister Milind Deora tweeted out his displeasure a couple of days ago, saying the government’s ordinance move ‘…can endanger already eroding public faith in democracy’.

Sandeep Dikshit was more guarded in showing his disapproval – “…I personally believe that it is something that should initially go to the standing committee” – still he made it known that he was not with the government on the ordinance.

Even other leaders known to be close to Rahul such as party general secretary Digvijaya Singh, Priya Dutt and Anil Shastri had made public their disagreement.

There has been considerable churn in the party over the ordinance in the last few days. It was cynical to begin with and it could have waited for a political consensus as it is already with a parliamentary committee. These made the ordinance totally uncalled for. Some of the grievances of the political parties over the apex court ruling disqualifying convicted members are genuine and need consideration.

While most parties agree on this, the Congress by going ahead with the ordinance – some allege it was done to protect RJD’s Lalu Prasad and Congress’ Rashid Alvi – was exposing itself to unwarranted controversy. However, finally it appeared that a clique of senior ministers, not particularly sensitive to public opinion, seemed to have won the day.

Rahul was making amends. He was also probably making a statement about himself and the Congress. Was it his conscious effort to distance the party from the government? By implication, his action means disowning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But let’s don’t read that far.

His primary target seem to have been the group of Congress leaders calling the shots in the government and landing it in one embarrassment after another. They will be more careful in their actions after this episode. This is an insult as big as it can get. It will be interesting to watch how the government responds to that. The response canbe expected to unfold gradually, revealing the changing equations in the party and the government.

The Congress vice-president has not impressed with his political or communication skills so far. He has been happy playing the backroom boy and avoiding the media glare, but he is definitely living up to his reputation as the outsider in politics. The more he speaks his mind, the better it will be for his public image.

Powerful September : If you are NOT......

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