Business Today 03-Jan-21

2020 was indeed a reset year — as much for India Inc. as it was for the world. It reset work as WFH got a new dimension. It rebooted strategies as firms had to scramble to deal with lockdowns and unlockdowns. It recast technologies, giving rise to new winners. It has reset education, healthcare, travel & tourism, financial services, insurance and a host of other sectors. All these put to test the mettle of the country’s best CEOs and their leadership skills. So when this year’s Business Today jury — comprising Ashu Suyash, MD & CEO, Crisil; Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Harsh Goenka, Chairman, RPG Enterprises; Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman, Motilal Oswal Financial Services and Zarin Daruwala, CEO, Standard Chartered India — met to select the winners of…

THE BAD… Y-o-Y Growth (%) April-October AUTO SEES SERIOUS DECElERATION FEW TAKERS FOR CONSUMER DURABLES TEXTILES SHRINK BIG TIME METAL & MINING: NEGATIVE CHARGE OIL & REFINERY: MAJOR SLIPPAGES …AND THE NOT SO BAD Y-o-Y Growth (%) April-October BOOST FOR FARM/ALLIED SECTORS DRUGS AND PHARMA: BIG RALLY FOOD PRODUCTS: APPETITE RETURNS NON-FOOD: ESSENTIALS DO WELL Exports Dip 9.1%, Imports Down 13.3% India’s merchandise exports fell 9.1 per cent to $23.4 billion in November compared with 1.2 per cent fall in November 2019; month-on-month (MoM) fall was 5.1 per cent At $33.4 billion, merchandise imports were 13.3 per cent lower than in November 2019 and 11.5 per cent less than the previous month FDI INFLOWS HIGHEST IN FIVE YEARS In first half of FY21, FDI inflows, comprising FDI equity inflows, re-invested…

“Oriflame India, rejoices as it touches the 25 years mile stone of enhancing the sublime beauty of women and empowering millions of lives to fulfil their dreams of a better future through social selling. Among the first and leading direct-selling brands in India, Oriflame has optimistically set its best foot forward into the next phase of 25 years of growth with renewed vigour in creating a dynamic environment for growth and fruitful association with brand partners.” ORI FLAME'S EXCITING INDIAN SAGA Oriflame has traversed a passionate journey of 25 years bringing millions of smiles on the faces of India's beautiful people with its beauty and wellness products. It is a momentous occasion that marks the Swedish company venturing into India 25 years ago with the mission to transform many lives,…

Dr. Vas Narasimhan, is Chief Executive Officer {CEO} of Novartis which has annual revenues of more than $50bn (£41 bn} and 125,000 employees around the world. Under his leadership, the company has completed over USD 70 billion in strategic transactions. Rakesh Rathi based in Europe is a senior IT and Business Transformation Executive. He has received multiple corporate awards including a prestigious and decorated award from President of India for "driving innovative digital business transformation with (-suite executives of large global firms''. Excerpts from Vas and Rakesh on how innovation and technology are essential leadership traits. What is your current focus around innovation and technology? Vas Narasimhan: The focus is about 80 per cent innovative medicines and 20 per cent generics. It is a good mix of long-term and short-term.…

Most young executives dream of making it to the corner room one day. A vast majority never gets to the top job of a CEO. But for those that do, life could be lonely at the top, even frustrating and disappointing at times while searching for the right advice or advisors. Especially dealing with multiple stakeholder expectations and scrutiny ranging from the company’s board to shareholders, suppliers, employees and customers. Coping with the role is not easy. A PwC study of 2,500 companies over the years shows that at least one-fourth of CEO departures in Fortune 500 companies were forced. So, how do the most successful CEOs manage their companies? Harvard Business Review’s CEO Genome Project spread over 10 years set out to pinpoint the specific attributes that define high-performance…

Of the eight years that Kundapur Vaman Kamath spent at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the late 1980s, he was in Indonesia for four years. A fast learner, Kamath, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus became fairly fluent in national language Bahasa Indonesia. Three decades later when he took up the chairmanship of New Development Bank (NDB) in Shanghai, the foreign language anxiety did resurface again as it meant communicating in ‘Mandarin’ in day-to-day conversations to survive five years in the city. But advanced technologies in language translation relieved the language fears. “The App did a good job in seconds to convey the message,” grins Kamath who also speaks Kannada and Tulu fluently. The former chairman of Infosys, who spent 13 years at ICICI Group, is a technology enthusiast. At ICICI…