Innholdsfortegnelse for 8 October 2017 i Business Today

The number of high-profile women CEOs and leaders who get featured regularly in publications could lead you into believing that gender disparity at the workplace is a thing of the past in corporate India. However, the ground reality is that while there has been some progress in reducing inequality at the workplace between the genders, there is a lot left to be achieved. A 2015 study by Catalyst, a leading non-profit organisation with offices across the globe, showed that men outnumber women three to one in most organisations in India. In higher ranks, the ratio becomes worse – women account for only about 14 per cent in the executive officer level. The Catalyst report suggests that while there has been a small improvement in urban India in women participation in…

TWO LAKH DIRECTORS BARRED Names of close to 2,00,000 directors on boards of companies have been struck off by the Registrar of Companies as these companies have not filed returns. These people will be barred from position on boards of new companies. They will not have to step down from boards of other companies. GOOGLE TO LAUNCH DIGITAL PAYMENT SERVICE IN INDIA Google plans to introduce a localised digital payment service in India, technology website TechCrunch reported, citing a report from news site The Ken. The payment service, called Google Tez, will include support for the governmentbacked Unified Payments Interface and other consumer payment services, including Paytm and MobiKwik. QUOTE "When I come to India in a few years, I hope to enjoy the beauty of India through the windows…

In July last year, IDFC Bank acquired South India-based Grama Vidiyal Microfinance. Many expressed surprise at the decision as the bigger challenge for IDFC, primarily a lender to companies, is creating a retail platform. More clarity emerged after two months when Kotak Mahindra Bank got South-based BBS Microfinance under its fold. Now, IndusInd Bank’s announcement that it was exploring a merger with Bharat Financial Inclusion, the erstwhile SKS Microfinance, a much bigger entity than peers with revenues of over ₹1,500 crore, has confirmed the trend. Many more bank-microfinance deals would hit the Street in near future. The reason is simple. Microfinance can serve many objectives of banks. These include helping them lend to the priority sector profitably. Also the microfinance space itself is undergoing changes because of low-cost delivery through…

I was disappointed to hear my daughter say one day that one of her first time clients had presumed that a male subordinate reporting directly to her was her boss,” says veteran banker Naina Lal Kidwai. “In her initial interactions with the client she had to work quite hard to set right this misconception.” In the 1980s when Kidwai herself was climbing the corporate ladder, such a presumption would have been no surprise. But that it was still being made by some, despite all the glass ceilings broken and peaks conquered by women in the last three decades, dismayed her. “Once informed, clients acknowledge it and change their approach quickly, but the fact is that such biases are still there,” says Kidwai. It might be the 21st century but the…

ANITA DONGRE Chief Creative Officer, House of Anita Dongre WHY SHE MATTERS Anita Dongre has taken high fashion to far-flung corners of the country Designer Anita Dongre has taken high fashion to far-flung corners of the country. Her brands, AND and Global Desi, are present in more than 50 cities. Her company, House Of Anita Dongre, set up as many as 100 stores in 2016 to take the total to 283. But more than that, it is her new mantra – sustainable fashion and responsible shopping – that may soon become the choice of eco-positive buyers. While AND is soon going to launch a recycled polyester collection, Global Desi has adopted two Maharashtra villages whose women are trained and employed at the brand’s factory. “I am trying to take sustainability…

ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA Chairperson, State Bank of India WHY SHE MATTERS In four years, she has taken a host of path-breaking decisions such as HR overhaul and massive digitisation. She also ensured a smooth merger of five associate banks with SBI. The first woman to head the largest bank in the country, State Bank of India, or SBI, has seamlessly implemented a number of path-breaking changes, which have become a template for public sector banks, which control more than two-third of the country’s banking industry in terms of deposits and advances. Take the merger of five associate banks, a herculean task that went off without major hiccups. The merger has taken SBI to the list of top 50 banks in the world with total assets of ₹40 lakh crore. The second…

GEETU VERMA Vice President, Foods (South Asia), Hindustan Unilever WHY SHE MATTERS She is strengthening different product portfolios with new flavours, taking the heritage brands global and looking at new but fast-growing opportunities. It is a testing time for Geetu Verma, Vice President, Foods (South Asia business), at Hindustan Unilever (HUL). The company’s packaged food business is facing competition from local players and food entrepreneurs who are pioneering new models of communication, logistics and go-to-market strategy. Demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax have also impacted this space. The key imperative for Verma is to keep product quality, price accessibility and availability steady as the South Asia foods business is growing at double digits. In India, HUL has relaunched its noodles portfolio with three global flavours and further added to its…

MEENA GANESH Co-founder & CEO, Portea Medical WHY SHE MATTERS Founded, led and co-promoted some of India’s most disruptive start-ups In May this year, Meena Ganesh co-authored a book, ‘The Manual for Indian Start-ups’, a guide to starting a business. Her short profile, published in the book, did a reasonable job of introducing her: “Founded and led, co-promoted, some of India’s most disruptive start-ups, including Portea Medical, CustomerAsset, Tutor Vista, BigBasket, Bluestone, FreshMenu, AcadGild, Avagmah, among others.” What it did not say was that Meena, and her investor husband K. Ganesh, are masters of scaling up businesses as well as successfully exiting them. Meena Ganesh sold her first start-up, BPO company CustomerAsset, to ICICI. She also co-promoted TutorVista, which was acquired by global education services company Pearson for $213 million…

PALLAVI S. SHROFF Managing Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co WHY SHE MATTERS Winning high-profile cases is just part of the talent package; building an ace team after a business split shows Shroff is also an excellent leader. Where there is a matter of Competition, Pallavi Shroff, managing partner of law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM), cannot be far from it. A noted lawyer and wife of Shardul Shroff (he is the Executive Chairman of the firm), Pallavi, a graduate in marketing management from Mumbai’s Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, has never been too far away from law as she is the daughter of P.N. Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India. Shroff was quick to switch to law. She has built her reputation since setting up the practice in…

REKHA MENON Chairman and Senior Managing Director , Accenture in India WHY SHE MATTERS Her company led peers in the journey to the digital, part of it because the talent got ready in quick time The IT industry, even a few years back, wouldn’t have imagined hiring cross-functional design thinkers, people with ethnographic skills, anthropologists, the “creative types”. But they do now. The industry is in the middle of a long disruption and that means companies have to hire new kinds of talent while up-skilling their existing workforce. Transactional work is getting automated. Employees are expected to do more value-added, more intelligent work. Seventy per cent of Accenture’s technology workforce in India has been re-skilled over the past two years – that pivot was Rekha Menon’s No.1 priority. Consider the…

SHWETA JALAN Managing Director and Head of India, Advent International WHY SHE MATTERS Has led some of the biggest deals in the Indian PE space Shweta Jalan, Managing Director of Advent International, a private equity (PE) firm, has been on her toes for the last 26 months. During this period, she was involved in making four investments – Ask Group, Dixcey, Quest and Crompton Greaves – and, more importantly, a successful exit. Advent sold its controlling stake in CARE Hospitals to Dubai-based Abraaj Capital for ₹1,300 crore, according to market grapevine, earning a two-fold return in four years. Barring ASK, all Advent investments have led to the PE firm owning controlling stakes in investee companies. “We will, by and large, stick to our core philosophy of having controlling stakes. We…

AMLA RUIA Founder, Aakar Charitable Trust WHY SHE MATTERS Thanks to her efforts, people grow two crops a year, rear cattle and access clean drinking water. Rajasthan and a number of states were reeling under a severe drought in 2003, and the farmers were the worst hit. Their tale of woe spread fast and caught the attention of Amla Ruia, a social entrepreneur and wife of Ashok Kumar Ruia, Chairman and Managing Director of Phoenix Mills. It saddened her, even more, when her native village Ramghar was affected. With help from the villagers, Ruia managed to build more than 200 ponds to recharge the groundwater. But she was keen to develop something more sustainable that would help the farmers in the long run. Three years later, her organisation Aakar Charitable…

GEETA GOEL Vice President, Mis sion Investing, Michael & Susan Dell F oundation, India WHY SHE MATTERS She helped the foundation with impact investing to leverage a unique model where profit and philanthropy go hand in hand. When Geeta Goel joined Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in 2007, she was all set to break new ground, that of impact investing. The USbased foundation decided to take a small step at first, putting money into Ujjivan Financial Services, a five-month-old microfinance institution (MFI). At the time, the general perception was that equity investments into social enterprises would mean a push towards profitability and that could hurt the value those companies were creating. But Goel did not think so. “If a social enterprise gets the right support from early-stage risk capital and…

LAXMI AGARWAL Director / Chhanv F oundation WHY SHE MATTERS She filed a PIL in 2006 that triggered the Supreme Court’s ruling on acid attacks. Sonam from Bihar and Ritu from Rothak have been visiting Delhi every 6-8 months over the past three years. They are undergoing a series of reconstruction surgeries for injuries caused by acid attacks. Delhi-based NGO Chhanv Foundation, which helps acid attack survivors and doubles up as a home away from home where their families stay during the treatment, has supported both women and many more like them. According to Laxmi Agarwal, one of the directors of Chhanv Foundation and an acid attack survivor, “Nearly 1,000 incidents happen in India every year, but most of them go unreported.” She is the face of Chhanv’s campaign Stop…

RENANA JHABVALA National Coordinator/ SEWA WHY SHE MATTERS For 40 years, she has been helping self-employed women improve their livelihood and assert themselves Many women have said to me that earlier we were afraid, but now we are not,” says Renana Jhabvala. “I think that is the most worthwhile thing about what we do.” Jhabvala, 64, a Padma Shri awardee, is President of SEWA Bharat, the federation of SEWA units across India. SEWA is, of course, the globally renowned trade union of women in the informal sector, the Self-employed Women’s Association, set up by the redoubtable Ela Ramesh Bhatt in Ahmedabad in 1972, whose foremost lieutenant, with her since 1978, has been Jhabvala. SEWA is now active across 14 Indian states with around 1.9 million members, several sister outfits, its…

SHAHEEN MISTRI Founder and CE O, Teach For India WHY SHE MATTERS She has provided quality education to more than 40,000 children through her NGO and helped another 1.5 lakh through the network of 200-odd Teach For India Fellows. What if we have kids sitting on their school management committee or the Prime Minister has an advisory council of students where they could express how they want the next India to be, muses Shaheen Mistri, Founder and Chief Executive of the NGO Teach For India. She has accomplished a mammoth task, providing quality education to more than 40,000 children through her NGO and helping another 1.5 lakh through the network of 200-odd Teach For India Fellows. These Fellows did a two-year fellowship at Teach For India, taught at various municipal…

SHIRANEE PEREIRA Co-founder / P eople For Animals, Chennai Chapter WHY SHE MATTERS She has campaigned heavily and worked with the government to ensure better regulation for animal testing. When Shiranee Pereira, an employee of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), shifted to Chennai in the early 1990s, she was appalled to find how stray dogs were put to sleep. The animals were electrocuted but died a prolonged and painful death due to frequent voltage drops. An animal lover, Pereira was not one to tolerate such cruelty and decided to act fast. At the time, People For Animals (PFA), founded by Maneka Gandhi (Union Minister for Women and Child Develop-ment), was looking to set up the organisation’s Chennai chapter and Pereira ended up co-founding it in 1994. “It would…

A Dream of Owning and Enjoying Luxury Feelings This refers to your annual Luxury Issue 2017 (September 24). Your editorial rightly mentions the limitations in getting details on the exact number of high net worth individuals in India. Yes, in India demonetisation did play a part in curbing the desires of the super rich, but it is a momentary phase. Making money and acquiring assets like luxury villas, cars, exotic jewellery, is the physical side of a human being’s basic desire to show off. Enjoying moments of pleasure by dining with your family and friends on occasions like birthdays and anniversaries in exclusive restaurants or hotels is the emotional side for keeping the memory of those intimate moments alive for life. Business Today’s issues on luxury motivate the readers like…

04 - 06 INDIA GROWTH STORY WHAT: India Economic Summit WHEN: Oct 4-6, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Recent global events have shown a surge in protectionism, nationalism and nativism. Countries are now dependent on each other to address common challenges. India’s growth has been instrumental in ensuring South Asia is the fastest-growing region in the world. As the world economy undergoes a slowdown, it is critical that India continues on this trajectory to ensure regional and global growth. At the same time, the country should take a more active role in geostrategic affairs. As the largest democracy and with a pluralistic society, India’s active global engagement has a symbolic significance. For this to be Asia’s century, India’s role is crucial. The 2017 India Economic Summit, held in partnership…

Star India’s aggressive bid of ₹16,347.50 crore for the fiveyear broadcast and digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) took the industry by surprise. But, what is clear is that having sports rights – especially cricket rights – is crucial for broadcasting networks. “Premium sports drive premium subscription. It not just helps pump up the overall ratings of a broadcaster, but also gives bargaining power to negotiate with multi-service operators,” says Vinit Karnik, Business Head (Entertainment, Sports & Live Events), GroupM. Sports is the key revenue earner for broadcasters after dramas. Among the top 20 television events in 2016, 17 were sporting events, dominated by cricket. “Having cricket in the portfolio immensely helps generate higher top lines,” says Harish Thawani, Founder, Nimbus Communications (which owns Neo Sports). The IPL…

As India gets ready for the third mini-ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Marrakesh, Morocco, next month, there is a query it could face from other member countries. How, and by when, will it phase out export subsidies that it provides under various foreign trade policies? This is because low and middle income WTO members which are allowed to provide some export subsidies due to a special and differential treatment provision under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures are supposed to give up such concessions once their GNP per capita exceeds $1,000 per annum for three consecutive years. India has just breached that limit. There is no doubt that India will have to provide an answer, and the government is working on it. But fixing a…

ANJULY CHIB DUGG AL Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance WHY SHE MATTERS Her efforts towards resolving the NPA issue and dealing with the aftermath of demonetisation are noteworthy In her two-year stint as Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Anjuly Chib Duggal has overseen several big initiatives. But her last few months in office – she retired in August 2017 – were, perhaps, the most action-packed. She was leading the government’s efforts to resolve the NPA deadlock. One of the many big steps taken towards that was the implementation of the NPA ordinance passed in May this year. Her department was also spearheading the government’s endeavour in popularising a cashless payment system in the country post demonetisation. While her contribution to these initiatives is well-known,…

WHY SHE MATTERS Has ensured that 50 per cent revenue comes from abroad; Is getting the company ready for future challenges NISABA GODREJ Executive Chairperson, Godrej Consumer Products In May, Adi Godrej announced the succession in the flagship company of the $4.1 billion Godrej group, Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), naming his second daughter, Nisaba, as the executive chairman. The 39-year-old broke the glass ceiling in the 120-year-old diversified conglomerate after working as the key architect of GCPL’s strategy and transformation in the last decade. “I have worked closely with her and seen her deliver tremendous results,” said Adi Godrej. Nisaba joined GCPL in 2007 and launched “Project Leapfrog” for accelerating domestic growth through innovation and consolidation. The company, under her, expanded its international portfolio through acquisitions in the UK, Indonesia,…

RADHIKA PIRAMAL Managing Director, VIP Industries WHY SHE MATTERS Under her leadership, VIP is no longer a fuddy-duddy luggage brand. It has updated itself with many youthful brands Fiscal 2016/17 was tough for most consumer goods companies. After decent festival sales, consumption came to a halt after demonetisation. But VIP Industries, under Managing Director Radhika Piramal, sprung a surprise. Its total income rose from ₹1,209 crore in 2015/16 to ₹1,283 crore. Net profit jumped from ₹66 crore to ₹88 crore. While Piramal attributes this to a strong portfolio of brands and her team, one can’t ignore that her efforts towards building a contemporary company after taking over in 2011 are now bearing fruit. Under her, VIP is no longer a fuddyduddy luggage brand. It has updated itself with youthful brands…

SONALI KULKARNI President and CE O, FANUC India WHY SHE MATTERS Every second car in India is welded by FANUC robots It wouldn’t be entirely wrong to call Sonali Kulkarni the first lady of Indian manufacturing. She has been with the factory automation company, FANUC, for 19 years, selling CNC (Computerised Numeric Control) to machine tool manufacturers as well as small and giant robots to the automotive industry, among many others. So much so that every second car in India is welded by FANUC robots. Also, almost all motorcycle engine blocks are machined on FANUC. Kulkarni’s role as President & CEO of FANUC India will become even more significant as Indian companies go for advanced manufacturing and Industry 4.0. FANUC’s performance is, in many ways, a barometer of the intent…

USHA SANGWAN Managing Director, Life Insurance Corporation WHY SHE MATTERS Under her supervision, LIC is moving in the direction of artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. For almost six months, Usha Sangwan presided practically alone over an empire almost twice the size of Reliance Industries. The behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India had revenues of ₹4.92 lakh crore in 2016/17, against RIL’s ₹2.65 lakh crore. With assets of over ₹25 lakh crore and 280 million customers, LIC is usually run by four managing directors. But two vacancies were not filled for a long time, while the third MD, V.K. Sharma, was promoted as chairman, leaving Sangwan as the sole functioning MD. It must have been an impossibly demanding period, but Sangwan shrugs off any such suggestion. “It was a…

VIBHA PADALKAR Executive Director and CFO, HDFC Life WHY SHE MATTERS She is the only woman in the top management of HDFC Life Just back from the US after dropping her child to school, Vibha Padalkar, Executive Director & CFO, HDFC Life, has been busy talking to stakeholders and consultants to take India’s third-largest private life insurer in terms of assets under management public. Padalkar, a chartered accountant from London, is a known expert in listing companies on exchanges. HDFC Life hired her in 2008 after she had listed WNS on the New York Stock Exchange. But then, the global financial crisis and regulatory revamp of the insurance sector hit the company’s IPO plans. But as Padalkar says: “There has never been a single day when I have not been…

ZARIN DARUWALA CEO, India, Standard Chartered Bank WHY SHE MATTERS Heads the largest foreign bank in the country in terms of branches. The bank showed a turnaround in NPAs and profitability in 2016/17 Zarin Daruwala, 52, is single-mindedly focused on getting things done. “I have a bias for action and persistence,” says Daruwala, who moved from ICICI Bank to Standard Chartered in April 2016 . In the last 18 months, her focus has been on ensuring a balance between wholesale and retail assets. Heavy reliance on corporate banking had put the bank in a spot after the 2007/08 slowdown. In the just-concluded financial year, the bank posted a 142 per cent jump in net profit due to better control over NPAs and rise in fee-based income. Daruwala had been a…

ELSA MARIE D’ SILVA Co-founder, Red Dot Foundation (SafeCity project) WHY SHE MATTERS She has developed an Internet platform that crowdsources incidents of abuse in public places and helps identify the hot spots. How safe is a city street or an eatery or a pub or any other public place for women out on their own? Sexual bullying and harassment on the streets or in other public spaces have grown alarmingly but now the issue can be tackled more effectively, going by what Elsa Marie D’Silva, Founder and Chief Executive of Red Dot Foundation, is doing. D’Silva gave up a lucrative career in the aviation industry when she started Red Dot in December 2012. Soon the foundation came up with SafeCity – an Internet platform that crowdsources reports of harassment…

HASINA KHARBHIH Founder, Impulse NGO Network and Impulse Social Enterprise WHY SHE MATTERS Impulse has dealt with 72,465 cases and trained 30,000- plus personnel from law enforcement agencies. Fight against human trafficking can be complex and tedious but Hasina Kharbhih does not hesitate to take the bull by the horns. At 17, Meghalaya-based Kharbhih walked away from an opportunity to study in London and pursued her work to prevent trafficking, an initiative she had taken up as part of extracurricular activity in school. Since the early 1990s, she had led a group of volunteers who not only worked to end the scourge of trafficking across the north-east but also helped the underprivileged women find sustainable livelihoods. Eventually, she registered her Impulse NGO Network and came up with a model that…

PREETHI HERMAN Executive Director (India), Change.org WHY SHE MATTERS She has transformed Change.org into a powerful community voice in India. Change is tough. Facilitating change is tougher. When Preethi Herman joined Change.org as Country Director, India, in 2012, there were 50 petitions being signed in India every month with 150,000 users. In five years, the number has surged to an average of 2,000 petitions a month with 7.5 million users who have either started or signed petitions. “It was a long process of learning to start the right petitions that are focused and have the potential to gather momentum,” says Herman. Before she took charge, petitions were usually very broad in their scope on topics such as End Poverty or Seek World Peace. Such objectives are unexceptionable, but they are…

SUNITA NARAIN Director General, Centre for Science and Environment WHY SHE MATTERS She has helped change policies and regulations relating to air pollution, food safety, solid waste management and climate change. Sunita Narain is a woman with a mission. It is not easy to take up the cudgels for India’s fragile ecosystem and make one’s voice heard. But the Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) remains undaunted. “This year I am so angry, so angry... because of rising air pollution and the use of hazardous petcoke and furnace oil. I am still fighting it,” says the Padma Shri winner who is also the editor of the fortnightly magazine Down To Earth. Since she joined the CSE in 1982, Narain has been working on a wide range…

BAG IT OR JUNK IT A good buy; it’s secure, sturdy, offers pure Android, dual camera and good performance PRICE: ₹14,999 RATING: 4.5/5 PLUS: Stock Android, dual camera MINUS: Low-light imaging The Mi A1 is the first Android One smartphone to be launched in the midsegment (under ₹15,000) category in India. Xiaomi and Google have teamed up to offer a delightful stock Android experience – no custom MIUI or preinstalled apps. On setting up the device, you will see a handful of apps from Google such as Gmail, YouTube, Chrome, Play Store, Duo, etc, along with the regular utility apps such as calendar and calculator. There is an option to instal the Mi Remote app and MIUI while setting up. The Mi A1 comes with built-in Google Assistant. I was…

“Sustainable growth to come from high-barrier complex generics” The US-based global CEO of Lupin, Vinita Gupta, tells P.B. Jayakumar about the crises Indian drug companies are facing in the US. Q. How will shrinking margins and wholesaler consolidation in the US affect Indian drug companies? There has been considerable pressure on pricing and margins in US generics. Anticipating this, nearly four-five years ago, we started investing in complex generics i.e., areas of higher entry barriers like inhalation devices, bio-similars and depot injectables along with our pipeline of first-to-file products. Sustainable growth going forward will be from high-barrier complex generics. Indian pharma companies will play a strong role in the US generics market. Today, over 30 per cent of US generic prescriptions dispensed are from products supplied by India. Indian pharma…

STAY CONNECTED WITH US ON www.facebook.com/BusinessToday @BT_India PERSPECTIVES Post GST, Changes in Pharma Policy Likely The pharma policy draft, which is now being circulated within industry circles for feedback, may see new entrants into the field businesstoday.in/postgst-pharmapolicy How Two Ex-chiefs of RBI Handled One of the Worst Currency Crisis in 2013 The authors – D. Subbarao and Raghuram Rajan – have a different take on the recovery of the rupee value post the measures businesstoday.in/subbarao-rajan NEWS What Is Driving Equity MFs’ Growth at Record Level? With expense ratio of 2-3 per cent, mutual funds are certainly one of the cost-effective ways of investing in equities businesstoday.in/mf-growth All You Need to Know About 3D Printed Functional Component The 3D printing is coming of age in India – manufacturers are slowly transitioning…

WAGES OF DISPARITY Gender pay gap in India stood at 25 per cent in 2016 (Hourly median gross wage) BOARDROOM BLUES Indian women are grossly underrepresented on company boards 28-20 PER CENT The fall in gender pay gap at supervisory level from 2015 to 2016. Gap at the non-supervisory level rose by five percentage points. THE MISSING TOP Proportion of senior management positions held by women (%) 8.05 MILLION (13.76% of total) Establishments owned by women entrepreneurs in India.... ...provide employment to 13.45 MILLION THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHALLENGE Southern states have the most number of establishments run by women… (Figures in per cent) …and most of the women establishments are self-financed Source: Sixth Economic Census, Grant Thornton, Monster Salary Index, Prime Database…

ALICE G. V AIDYAN CMD, General Insurance Corporation of India WHY SHE MATTERS She is the first woman chairperson of a general insurance company. Under her, the corporation has taken big strides in crop re-insurance, which has emerged as the biggest portfolio in the last two years When Alice Vaidyan, 58, was preparing for General Insurance Corporation’s, or GIC’s foray into crop reinsurance, she was scouting for a protection policy, or reinsurance. The search took her to Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. She flew down to New York to meet Ajit Jain, almost the second-in-command at the $220 billion Berkshire Hathaway. Over lunch, Jain, touted as a successor to Warren Buffet, discussed the crop insurance dynamics in India. Those in the know say Vaidyan did hard negotiation. Berkshire agreed to take…

ARUNA JAYANTHI Head of Busines s Services/ Capgemini WHY SHE MATTERS Her new role is strategic, meant to drive non-linear revenues Aruna Jayanthi probably has a great role in this era of de-globalisation and automation. The former India head of European IT services giant Capgemini grew the headcount in the country from 32,000 to 85,000 between 2011 and 2015. The narrative on people has changed since. In 2016, Jayanthi took over as the Head of Business Services, a “new strategic business unit” created to provide BPO and Platform (integrated technology and operations) services. It’s a global position. Globally, the business employs 26,000. However, about a fourth of the business is run with just 600 people. “Few people, high revenue. That’s the model,” says Jayanthi, who is driving this at Capgemini,…

FALGUNI NAYAR Founder and CEO/Nykaa WHY SHE MATTERS Owns one of the few profitable e-commerce start-ups in the country At a time when e-commerce is all about failed start-up stories, former Kotak Capital MD Falguni Nayar’s online beauty market place, Nykaa, is an exception. Her ₹280 crore enterprise is set to break even by Deçember. It would be profitable soon. Nayar, an ace investment banker, got the basics of the business bang on. When most e-commerce peers were aggressively giving discounts to acquire customers, Nayar was clear. “We don’t discount from our pocket. We pass on discounts that brands want to offer,” says Falguni Nayar, Founder, Nykaa. “You need to get your digital marketing right, have a low cost of customer acquisition, and have the ability to extract greater value…

KAKU NAKHATE President and India Countr y Head, Bank of America WHY SHE MATTERS She networks with the who’s who of India Inc., leading to some of the biggest deals and issuances A month ago, Kaku Nakhate went to the US for a 14-city trip to discuss with clients the key changes that happened in India, including demonetisation, digitisation and the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST). “These meetings help our clients get a first-hand view of India and you engage a lot better with them and that helps you guide your India teams,” she explains. That kind of global platform and client stickiness are the key reasons why BofA has a consistent track record of profitable Indian operations. Nakhate’s biggest deals included Aditya Birla Nuvo-Grasim merger (sole advisor…

PADMAJA RUPAREL Co-founder, IAN WHY SHE MATTERS She has built institutions that have helped start-ups thrive; IAN's new fund seeks to transform the start-up landscape Padmaja Ruparel has a simple philosophy in life. She calls it playing the game: “It is not what one gains; it is what one creates.” Ruparel has built institutions, and seen the gains flow. She involved herself with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) around 1999, when “people made errors spelling ‘entrepreneurship’; she co-founded the Indian Angel Network (IAN) in 2006, when high net worth individuals typically asked what was “religious” about angel investing. IAN is today the world’s largest business angel network with 450 investors. It has invested in 135 companies and cites an internal rate of return of 32 per cent. There have been more…

RAJSHREE PATHY Chairperson, Rajshree Sugar s and Chemicals WHY SHE MATTERS She combines a hard head for business with exquisite taste in art There is much more to Rajshree Pathy, 61, than the sobriquet “sugar baroness” often used to describe her. No doubt she has broken many a glass ceiling, taking over as the first female managing director of a sugar mill in 1990, after the untimely death of her father G. Vardaraj, who had set it up, as well as becoming the first woman president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association in 2004/05. No doubt her company too has cause for satisfaction, having overcome three successive years of losses by posting a profit of ₹29.94 crore in 2016/17. It has also ventured into a number of new areas in…

SCHAUNA CHAUHAN SALUJA CEO, Parle Agro WHY SHE MATTERS Her company is growing despite intense competition from global giants Coke and PepsiCo It has been a fruitful year for Schauna Chauhan Saluja, CEO of Parle Agro. The company’s flagship brand, the mango drink Frooti, was launched in a fizzy version in March – its first brand extension since it began 32 years ago. Last year, Frooti also grabbed second spot in the mango drinks market, outstripping PepsiCo’s Slice (Coca-Cola’s Mazaa is No. 1). Despite facing formidable competitors, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Parle Agro’s grip on the fizzy drinks market has been strengthening. Frooti Fizz now reaches 320,000 outlets, while Appy – the first fizzy drink it launched in 2005 – has been growing at more than 20 per cent annually for the…

SUNEETA REDDY Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise WHY SHE MATTERS Spearheads finance and strategy functions at Apollo Hospitals Prathap C. Reddy, the Chairman of Apollo Hospitals, refers to Suneeta, the second of his four daughters who keeps a tight grip on group finances, as Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, for the group. So it was not surprising when her name figured in this year’s Most Powerful Women in Business, a year which was highly challenging for the company on every parameter. Not to be carried away by her father’s analogy, Suneeta – who was also present at the interview a few years ago when Reddy had made the comparison – broke into a smile and said, “Sometimes, just maintaining stability is important, which is why perhaps Goddess Lakshmi sits on a…

NITA AMBANI Director, Reliance Industries and F ounder- Chairperson, Reliance Foundation WHY SHE MATTERS As chairperson of Reliance Foundation, she has helped millions of marginalised and vulnerable people When floods struck seven districts of Gujarat in July this year, Nita Ambani rushed to the spot. Reliance Foundation, of which she is chairperson, has since then adopted four among the worst-hit villages in Banaskantha and Patan districts, pledging to rebuild them. In June, the foundation had taken up the task of improving health care services in Rajasthan, reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates. Though the foundation was set up only seven years ago, Reliance Group has been engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR)-related activities for many more. “I have been involved with these activities for over 25 years,” says Ambani. Reliance…

SAFEENA HUSAIN Founder and Ex ecutive Director / E ducate Girls WHY SHE MATTERS Her NGO works with 21,000-plus schools, has helped more than two lakh girls to enrol and has reached over 3.8 million beneficiaries. Safeena Husain, a graduate of London School of Economics, had worked in various development projects in South America, Africa and Asia for 10 years. But when she thought of returning to India, Husain was determined to focus on the agenda closest to her heart – girls’ education – and founded the not-for-profit organisation Educate Girls in 2007. “In India, the biggest problem is many parents do not want to educate their daughters,” she says. The statistics are appalling. About three million girls are out of school, and only one out of 100 girls in…

SUNITHA KRISHNAN Founder / Prajw ala WHY SHE MATTERS Her 300-strong team has rescued 18,500 victims and rehabilitated 14,800 Sunitha Krishnan is proud. One of her young charges, a third-year medical student, has topped all her semester examinations. But unlike other talented youngsters, her life started on G.B. Road, a red light area in Delhi. Krishnan rescued the four-year-old along with another child who is now doing her master’s in pharmacy. Their success stories are astonishing, and so is the journey of Prajwala (eternal fire), the organisation set up by Krishnan in 1996, which not only combats sex trafficking but also protects and rehabilitates women and children. Prajwala started in a vacant brothel, following a High Court order to dismantle all such buildings in Mehboob ki Mehendi area in Hyderabad.…