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Not time for bottom fishing yet say experts even as many blue chips hit their 52 week lows

In order to nourish and nurture the talent within its workforce, Indian IT giant <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> has decided to restart its internal leadership institute and reward its executives on the basis of succession planning. This way, it would also reduce its reliance on outside talent. To give shape to the idea, a new leadership framework has been put into action, as per which executives are being asked to nurture talent from within their teams. In the recent past, its reliance on outside talent has resulted in Infosys hiring a number of highly-paid resources from outside India, including over 150 executives that were hired in onsite locations and were given over Rs 1crore a year in compensation. "We have to develop talent within. A company that depends disproportionately on outside talent is at risk of building a mercenary culture," co-chairman <keyword id="50299" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ravi-Venkatesan">Ravi Venkatesan</keyword> told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/infosys-reboots-leadership-institute/articleshow/59209171.cms">ET</a>. "We are rebooting the <keyword id="446829" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys-Leadership-Institute">Infosys Leadership Institute</keyword> and we have created a new leadership and talent framework." This leadership institute was created in 2001, and has been on the back-burner ever since its former leader <keyword id="497185" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Matt-Barney">Matt Barney</keyword> quit in 2013 to start LeaderAmp. Since then, Infosys has seen a lot of internal turbulence, ranging from founder <keyword id="6355623" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Narayana-Murthy">Narayana Murthy</keyword> returning and several top executives leaving the company. CEO <keyword id="6369763" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vishal-Sikka">Vishal Sikka</keyword>’s decision to hire highly paid talent from his former employer <keyword id="6358384" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SAP">SAP</keyword> for Infosys is also said to have caused discord within the company. "When your top executives are leaving the company in a rush, like in 2013, what choice does a company have but to bring in talent from outside. You can't leave top roles empty. But yes, it is a good sign that they are trying to reduce the dependence on outside talent. Employees are more comfortable when there is growth path within," said an industry analyst on the condition of anonymity.

Infosys asks managers to recognise talent within the team

<ul><li><keyword id="6354267" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sachin-tendulkar">Sachin Tendulkar</keyword> has invested $2 million in JetSynthesys, a digital entertainment and technology company.</li><li>JetSynthesys which also co-founded of e-sports company, Nodwin Gaming. Apart from Tendulkar, the company is also backed by former Infosys chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan and Adar Poonawalla of the <keyword id="95879" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Serum-Institute-of-India">Serum Institute of India</keyword> and the family offices of the promoters of Thermax, <keyword id="906497" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Triveni-Group">Triveni Group</keyword>, <keyword id="11748876" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="yohan-poonawalla-group">Yohan Poonawalla Group</keyword> and DSP Group.</li><li>We spoke to <keyword id="25597" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="rajan-navani">Rajan Navani</keyword>, Vice Chairman &amp; Managing Director, JetSynthesys,who talks to us about the company’s journey so far, what the funding means for it, and its future strategies to grow further.</li></ul>Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has invested $2 million in JetSynthesys, a digital entertainment and technology company. Tendulkar already had a joint venture for a digital destination for cricket, 100MB, and cricket games <keyword id="6046220" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sachin-Saga-Cricket-Champions">Sachin Saga Cricket Champions</keyword> and Sachin Saga VR. JetSynthesys has a catalogue of over 300 games across HTML, <keyword id="11749527" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="java-android-and-ios">Java, Android and iOS</keyword> platforms spanning across multiple segments. In India, the company has created several celebrity games. It is also known for developing mobile games with high fidelity and network play and for its global publishing partnerships with the likes of WWE (WWE Racing Showdown), Square Enix (Ludo Zenith), and Sony (for Hollywood film Passenger). JetSynthesys is also the co-founder of e-sports company, Nodwin Gaming. Apart from Tendulkar, the company is also backed by former Infosys chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan and Adar Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India. It is also backed by the family offices of the promoters of Thermax, Triveni Group, Yohan Poonawalla Group and DSP Group. We recently caught up with Rajan Navani, Vice Chairman &amp; Managing Director, JetSynthesys,who spoke to us about the company’s journey so far, what the funding means for it, and its future strategies to grow further. Excerpts: Q)You have just secured a fresh round of funding of $2 million from Sachin Tendulkar. What is it about JetSynthesys that has attracted investors from such diverse backgrounds? Investors back two things – executable ideas and people. JetSynthesys has both. Since our inception, we’ve successfully managed to rally a known coterie of names (Adar Poonawalla, Kris Gopalakrishnan, and promoters of Thermax, Triveni Group, Yohan Poonawalla Group and DSP Group) on the power of our vision. We also work hard to bring world class talent to the organization and I’d credit our success to the strength of the workforce. Our investors have seen this potential and the fact that we’ve covered so much ground in such a short span of time as a company is a testament to the dedication we collectively have which further bolsters their belief in us. Over the past five years, Sachin and Jetsynthesys have built products and platforms together keeping gamers at the heart of our strategy. This investment gives him a stake in the overall JetSynthesys story and it’s great to have him as part of this journey as we build a global new age digital entertainment and technology platform. When this association began, the aim was to provide an authentic gaming experience for cricket lovers across the globe; together we are looking to diversify that purview to include more cross category digital products and platforms. Q) What kind of growth have you been witnessing? What have your areas of focus been so far? Our gaming vertical has witnessed maximum growth since inception and the pandemic provided an even sharper upswing than before. JetSynthesys saw growth both in terms of consumption and monetization, and the overall player engagement has had a 40% to 150% boost, depending on the particular game in question. We witnessed a surge of monetization through inventory. The downloads also grew by 100-200% depending on what we had planned and player engagement improved from the previous average of 30-45 minutes a day to 50-55 minutes a day. For JetSynthesys, the plan that we had for the next 18 months got realized in a period of 6 months. Overall, the lockdown has been really good for us. Mindfulness, vernacular music, video content verticals have also seen 40-80% growth. Q)With this latest round of investment, what will your key focus be on to further strengthen your position in the market? Cricket is a celebrated sport that is entrenched within the DNA of Indians. In fact, its popularity and following is mirrored in the cricket skill-based gaming category. It has always been a strong focus area for us, and through this investment, we aim to strengthen our existing catalogue of products and platforms under our gaming vertical. Our capabilities will further build consumer love for brand Sachin and these funds will help us expand our roster of partnerships to other known names as well. Q)India is witnessing a boom in e-gaming. What do you think is the potential? Are we there yet, in terms of our talent pool, if not, where do we lack? For India, the gaming market is a sub-billion in a $170 billion industry. So the catch-up for India is massive. We have 13% of the world’s downloads on mobile and the mobile industry is the fastest growing platform. I look at a CAGR of 40-50% annually. Today, there are more global gaming studios that are using Indian talent and the nation becoming a part of the global supply chain in the gaming industry is another interesting format. We saw gaming go from casual to professional and also identified the early opportunity in<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/esports?src=hashtag_click"> esports</a> as a key pillar of the<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/gaming?src=hashtag_click"> gaming</a> ecosystem in India when we co-founded Nodwin Gaming. As a category, esports has a bright future. Today, esports gamers have a major impact on gamers’ spending habits with 67% influenced by what influencers eat, 34% by what influencers wear and 18% by listening to music recommended by influencers. It is expected that Indian esports would be playing a key role in the global market by 2023. From the government standpoint, I have had extensive discussions with the commerce as well as the IT ministries. With the respective ministries, we have been vocal about the needs and potential to create livelihoods for young professionals through gaming. I think gaming brings a diverse set of talent pools ranging from engineering and art to animation and visualization. There are tons of pools required as we see this space growing even in terms of advanced technologies like AR or VR. These will all be the key drivers to bring in new types of talent needed for the gaming industry in India and globally. Investing in training infrastructure for this talent pool as well as incentivizing the industry in terms of building more infrastructure in similar lines to what Telangana has been doing – creating technology parks specifically for gaming and animation is required. I am seeing governments both at the state level and national level looking at this opportunity extensively. Being involved with Prime Minister Modi's vision of the new India of 2022, I think I have seen closely how this USD 1 trillion of the new age business economy will be shaping. Soon the government investments and incentives will flourish for the gaming sector, increasing large-scale mobilization of resources. The trillion dollars in that USD 5 trillion global economy will be from gaming and esports. The gaming industry will contribute massively to the global economy soon, hence growing the global pie. Q)What are a few hurdles for the gaming industry in India? With a strong presence beyond Tier I cities, online gaming needs Indian publishers for relevant and localized marketing that keeps diverse players engaged even through changing trends. Moreover, the Indian gaming population is growing but is fragmented, making distribution a challenge. Additionally, although the average revenue per paying user (ARPU) is increasing, it is far behind that of other countries. This has also led to limited institutional capital being deployed so far. The last five years have seen tremendous growth, primarily in casual gaming and real money gaming. With gamers maturing, ARPUs improving through microtransactions, and gaming companies getting exits, the industry is coming of age. The next phase of growth is expected from midcore/hardcore games. Also, while the Covid-19 induced lockdown was a major shot in the arm for the gaming industry, with so much digital action going on, most companies realized that the lack of discovery was becoming the initial challenge. At some point, the ability to grab the attention of a user became a bit more expensive. Even though we have an established gaming studio looking to expand and grow, the talent crunch at the India level is there. There is a dearth of a high-quality talent pool in India. The Indian companies haven't created that much success globally especially in some areas like engineering. We might be good at creatives but when it comes to game design, we lack to deliver deeper products. Being able to build products that can generate several hundred million dollars of revenue a year is still a dream. Another challenge is the significant gap between the way our user is monetised in India and other established global markets. The dependence on a few advertising revenues compared to in-app purchases being higher in countries like India is required. Being a frugal market when it comes to being able to demonstrate value, India still gives high levels of performance. Nobody pushes the price-performance curve as an Indian consumer does, that is what makes us competitive. We can continue to deliver greater performance at a lower price thus becoming super competitive. Hence, I believe in India. We will be able to take new models to the world, take new performance measures, and do at a better price point like has been done in so many other industries. On the upside, the industry today has more opportunities than challenges and our early mover advantage has held us in good stead. One of the things that we have identified in the mobile gaming aspect is the element of ‘disruption’ which we have gone through in these years. This disruption has helped the mobile ecosystem evolve in this state wherein today mobile gaming is the biggest source of revenue generation. When we look at the Indian market, the biggest challenge is monetization. Retention is also another challenge among users, since we identify heavier games as being an issue when it comes to retention amongst gamers. These are the challenges we need to address on our side. New monetization models are evolving in the market. We have to adapt to the new evolution that is happening across in terms of monetization like the Real Money Gaming aspect. Q)Where will JetSynthesys' next phase of growth come from? Not only do we want to be India’s largest digital entertainment and technology company, but we are also pushing ourselves to play the leadership role globally. We understand the role of responsibility in digital, and our goal is to strengthen the trust that we build between JetSynthesys, our consumers, and our gamers. We try to go through all of our products and figure out what is “Gaming for Good” and what is “Digital for Good.” How we can shape and define that in the future is something that excites me. So besides the economic and financial good of the company, building a great company on the right values in an emerging sector, particularly for India, is something that takes greater precedence. Figuring out a way to do this excites us at JetSynthesys and unites us as a team. I am personally looking forward to seeing what the next 5 years hold for us. Also, looking at esports now as entertainment and the new ways of sports entertainment which is emerging- with people watching streamers rather than playing or witnessing the physical sport, is an area that we are very excited about and where we think that we will again strengthen our positioning as we move forward.

With a $2 million funding from Sachin Tendulkar, Rajan Navani of digital entertainment and tech company JetSynthesys shares the roadmap ahead

Ahead of <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword>’ annual shareholder meeting on Monday, the first non-founder chief executive officer, <keyword id="6369763" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vishal-Sikka">Vishal Sikka</keyword> has highlighted some of the biggest achievements of the country’s second-largest software exporter during the past one year, in his blog. He also paid tribute to outgoing <keyword id="177384" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="non-executive-chairman">non-executive chairman</keyword> <keyword id="396965" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="KV-Kamath">KV Kamath</keyword>, according to an Economic Times report. Sikka spoke about some of the big bets Infosys has made, including what the company internally calls '<keyword id="2911637" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Zero-Distance">Zero Distance</keyword>'. He said the company started the Zero Distance initiative as part of an internal push to infuse innovation into each of the company's existing client projects. The company currently has about 23,000 projects with customers. Twelve months after being named as the CEO of Infosys, Sikka said in the internal company blog on Sunday: "I write this onboard a beautiful <keyword id="71561" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Lufthansa">Lufthansa</keyword> <keyword id="999178" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Boeing-747-8">Boeing 747-8</keyword>, the latest incarnation of the magnificent plane that was born around the same time I was, and has evolved through these decades in a timeless manner. It makes me even more proud that a brilliant team of Infoscions helped design many key parts and systems of this amazing machine." He further said the company had made a five-point template internally to improve the quality of each customer project. Infosys has even formed Zero Distance groups on <keyword id="726756" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Yammer">Yammer</keyword> and on the company's intranet Sparsh. 

	"Then we rolled this template out to a 1000 projects and their leadership, and a few weeks later, to all our projects....Projects covering more than 68k delivery colleagues at Infosys, that is more than 70% of our delivery strength, are participating and more than 500 client conversations relating to the improvements and innovations in their projects have already happened," he said.
 

	The Infosys CEO said the company had so far trained over 35,000 employees in design thinking, of which more than 21,000 have been trained from the delivery organisation. The company has also conducted over three dozen design thinking workshops till date.
 The company has rolled out its Infosys Information Platform (IIP) to more than 100 customer projects. It is the company's flagship big data analytics platform and the platform's development is being overseen by platforms head <keyword id="1187683" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Abdul-Razack">Abdul Razack</keyword>, a key Sikka lieutenant. "Under Abdul and Samson's leadership, our work in IAP is already resulting in substantial savings due to automation in the routine, mechanizable areas like parts of infrastructure management. And we now have more than 100 commercial IIP engagements, including many that have already produced breakthrough results. <keyword id="2728667" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Panaya">Panaya</keyword>'s adoption is underway, and is picking up steam. We've crossed 12 Panaya wins done by the Infosys CSG teams," Sikka said. 

	Meanwhile, Sikka paid tribute to Kamath and said new chairman R Seshasayee had "become a mentor" to him. "(KV Kamath) is an amazing man, a natural leader, a unique combination of spirituality and practicality, of great vision and dreams, and great execution and discipline. As happy as I am to see him lead this great new institution for humanity, I will really miss him," he said. 

	 
	(Image: Reuters)

Vishal Sikka talks about Infosys’ ups ahead of a crucial meet

As individuals, Indians are resourceful, creative and smart. In a supportive context, such as <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> they have shown that they can play critical roles in the most innovative companies. But, here in <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, our innovation output is significantly below our potential. My work on innovation has focused on identifying the barriers to innovation in India, and seeking pathways at the level of both the nation and the firm to channelize our creative potential into a more systematic and sustainable innovation output. 
 
The Big Picture 
International comparative studies of innovation consistently place India far below the top of the innovation charts. In the latest INSEAD-WIPO Global Innovation Index (2013), India ranks #66. Rather than going up the ladder, India is actually sliding down – we slipped two positions in the last year and, this is in spite of the Government of India declaring this the decade of innovation! 
 
A simple way of understanding innovation output is to think in terms of supply side factors, processes and capabilities, and demand side factors. At the national level, since liberalization began over two decade ago, the demand for innovation has grown. Disposable incomes are up, the government is looking for low cost solutions to knotty public problems, and the legal systems for protection of inventors’ rights, are now better aligned with those in rest of the world. But India still faces challenges on the supply side, and in the capabilities of organizations to use the inputs available for innovative outcomes. 
 
Supply side issues include the failure of the education system to rise up to the challenge of building a well-trained work force that can undertake creative problem-solving, lack of adequate seed capital to take ideas to prototypes, and the absence of a supportive infrastructure for innovation. But, perhaps the biggest supply side problem is India’s poor research base – a recent study commissioned by India’s Department of Science &amp; Technology shows that India’s research output is not cited at a level above the global average in a single academic discipline. 
 The main agent of innovation in a capitalist <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> is the firm. This is the entity that links ideas with the market. Unfortunately, firms in India have been slow to develop systematic innovation capabilities, preferring to rely on traditional methods of creative improvisation such as jugaad. While jugaad may be attractive to large multinational firms whose processes have become too rigid and inflexible, Indian firms (with a few notable exceptions) face the opposite challenge – their innovation processes are too fluid and under-developed to facilitate the transformation of the creative energies of their employees into a steady stream of innovative products and services. Unfortunately, while multinational R&amp;D and engineering subsidiaries in India have the potential to do more innovative work, their innovation tends to be circumscribed by the roles mandated by their parents. 
 Why don’t Indian organizations spend more effort in developing better innovation capabilities? Family ownership appears to be a barrier, unless the family members involved in the business have a penchant for innovation (e.g. Dr. <keyword id="253203" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anji-Reddy">Anji Reddy</keyword> and Dr. <keyword id="76415" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Parvinder-Singh">Parvinder Singh</keyword> at DRL and Ranbaxy respectively). More traditional family owners lack a deep understanding of either technology or customer needs, two of the key starting points for innovation. 
 
But there are also social and cultural forces at work that impede the creation of systematic innovation capabilities within firms. Research on management in India has shown that Indian companies’ efforts at innovation are impeded by poor teamwork; the enduring importance of upward hierarchical progression in a traditional society that leads to individuals moving out of individual contributor roles too early; a “brahminical attitude” that gives brainwork a superior position over physical work and results in ideation being lionised but experimentation looked down upon. Additionally, a weak systems and strategic orientation that results in the absence of appropriate change paradigms; a low tolerance of failure; a lack of confidence in innovation capabilities; a failure to positively reinforce innovation efforts; and a strong need for control that comes in the way of joint working with other organisations, all are impediments to innovation in India. 
 
Accelerating the Pace of Change 
Some of these factors are changing over time, but the change is slow. What can India do to accelerate the pace of change? 
I believe there are four priorities starting with a focus on the creation of a critical mass of new generation firms, started by young entrepreneurs. These youngsters would be relatively free of the baggage of our past and therefore more inclined to take on the challenge of genuine innovation. These firms need to be in sectors and application areas that go well beyond our traditional strengths like IT and services. 
The second priority is to provide the right incentives for institutions of higher education to change to become more research-oriented and more practice-oriented. 
 
The third priority is to change the nature of government’s support for research and development. The traditional model of government- owned, financed, and run research institutions needs to be replaced by competitive government grants to support R&amp;D in private institutions and small firms. The feasibility of this has already been proven by the schemes and programmes of the Department of Biotechnology, such as SBIRI and BIRAC. Such an approach needs to be extended to other sectors as well. 
 
The last but certainly not the least priority is to move India towards being a more knowledge-driven and science-intensive society. The solution to this problem lies as much with individuals as with the government. The next time your child has a project from school, get her to do it rather than doing it for her. Don’t accept superstitions and baseless rituals. Embrace the scientific method. 
 
Building Innovation Capabilities: The 8 Steps Approach The other part of the puzzle is building strong organizational innovation capabilities. Some Indian companies have already shown how this can be done. <keyword id="1643686" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vinay-Dabholkar">Vinay Dabholkar</keyword> and I have captured the essence of these practices in our 8 Steps to Innovation framework. 
 
In our interaction with Indian companies, we learnt that they faced three major problems in making innovation a sustained activity. The first is what we call the pipeline problem – the absence of a steady stream of ideas that can drive their innovation engine. Some companies told us that they have managed to create a stream of ideas, but that many of the ideas seem to get lost in the system – this is the source of a second problem that we call the velocity problem. A set of companies more mature in the innovation process told us that their challenge is different – this is the third problem that we call the batting average problem, i.e., the absence of adequate business impact of innovation. 
 
Our 8 step framework seeks to address these three big problems. Building a pipeline involves getting more people across the organization to see innovation as a part of their job and to make it easy for them to share their ideas with the company. To facilitate this, we advocate 3 steps. The first is to lay the foundation for innovation. This is achieved by designing an idea management system that is aligned with the company’s culture, conducting periodic campaigns that create excitement and involvement around innovation, and training people in creative problem solving methods to help them unleash their creative potential. The second step is to create a “challenge book” – identify the problems on which the company should focus its innovation efforts. The third step is to encourage participation in innovation. Some of the ways of achieving this are identification and recognition of innovation role models; forming communities of practice; identifying and training innovation catalysts who can help people with ideas take these ideas forward; and judicious use of rewards and recognition to get people involved. 
 
Ideas don’t move forward because they remain untried and untested. The solution to this is to encourage and support quick, low-cost experimentation to test assumptions related to need, technology, production, and commercialization. Once a proof-of-concept has been established, the barrier often shifts to the resources needed to take the innovation forward. Champions provide credibility and support and help overcome this barrier. Moving towards commercialization is helped by applying the principles of experimentation to the business model as well. 
 
Getting a bigger bang out of innovation – or enhancing the batting average as we call it – depends on two sets of actions. The first set is related to making the innovation successful, and consists of the use of innovation sandbox approaches to do intense experimentation within the tight expectations of the market; the use of platform approaches to help capture value from one innovation across multiple application areas; and sourcing ideas from outside the company (open innovation) to complement the company’s ideas and complete the innovation process. The second set relates to managing risk. Understanding the history of similar innovations, awareness of the baseline success rate of such innovations, and doing a premortem are some useful ways of managing the risk involved. Other approaches include a portfolio orientation and having a vigorous pipeline to avoid over-dependence on a single innovation. 
 We found successful Indian companies practising several of the approaches we have described above. <keyword id="6359783" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bajaj-Auto">Bajaj Auto</keyword> has been very effective at defining the right challenge book leading to market-dominating products such as the Pulsar. <keyword id="10899" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Titan-Industries">Titan Industries</keyword> has been a leader in training employees to participate in the innovation process and launching annual campaigns. Cognizant Technology Solutions has also been strong on participation, and has trained an impressive “army” of catalysts. <keyword id="42747" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tata-Motors">Tata Motors</keyword> has used innovation sandboxes effectively, <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> has a portfolio of effective innovation platforms, and Eureka Forbes has used open innovation to its advantage. Clearly where there is a will, Indian companies have found a way to build their innovative capabilities. 
 
(The author of this article is Rishikesh T. Krishnan. His main areas of interest are strategy and innovation. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania (Fall 2008), and at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad (2011-12). This article was contributed to Thinkers, a quarterly thought leadership magazine that features the brightest thinkers in the areas of economics and governance, philosophy and literature, science and technology, and management. To learn more about the magazine, please visit: <a href="http://www.thinkers.in/">www.thinkers.in</a> ) 
 
Image: thinkstock

Thinkers/Thinkers 50: Going beyond Jugaad, can India build a systematic innovation capability?

In a bid to transform state-run banks, the Indian Government is determined to hire outside talent and bureaucrats in <keyword id="6355548" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Public-Sector-Banks">public sector banks</keyword>. The Government is going to appoint Ravi Venkatesan, an independent director on the <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> board, and former revenue secretary Sumit Bose as chairmen of two public-sector banks. 
 Also, TN Manoharan, who is on the board of <keyword id="43217" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tech-Mahindra">Tech Mahindra</keyword>, and former petroleum secretary GC Chaturvedi are going to head two other banks. 
 
However, names of the banks they will be soon heading could not be confirmed. 
 
"Approvals have been sought for the candidature of Ravi Venkatesan and Sumit Bose," a senior official with the department of personnel &amp; training told Economic Times. The official also confirmed the news about appointment of Manoharan and Chaturvedi to head other banks. 
 
The Government wants to hire chairmen of eight banks as it wants to reform the state-run banking system. 
 
"It should take at least a week for the announcement of chairmen of eight PSBs," another official, aware of the developments, told ET, adding, “the move shows the resolve of the government to give more autonomy to state-run banks and transform the way banking is done at these institutions.” 
 
The official said the shortlisted candidates were industry leaders, veteran bankers and reputed bureaucrats, which will further empower individual bank boards. 
 
Venkatesan was the chairman of Microsoft India between 2004 and 2011. He is also a fellow of the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership, Boston. 
 
The financial daily reported that the Government had appointed Manoharan on Satyam’s board after it took control of the scam-hit company. The company was later on acquired by Tech Mahindra and Manoharan is now a director on the board of Tech Mahindra. He served as the president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India during 2006-07. 
 
Bose and Chaturvedi are seasoned bureaucrats, as the former was revenue and disinvestment secretary while the latter held the charge of additional secretary, financial services, before he went on to become petroleum secretary. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Big public banks to now have tough
corporate bosses from Infosys and Tech Mahindra

MUMBAI: IT major <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> has remained firm after reporting a 3.5 per cent cut in Q1 net profit. The change of guard at Infosys, with <keyword id="6369763" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vishal-Sikka">Vishal Sikka</keyword> taking over as the <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword>, has been positively accepted by both the Infosys employees and investor community 
 
Since taking over, Sikka has taken five key steps, early signs of which seem to suggest that there has been a change in the mood from near-despondency to excitement. 
 
Sikka’s 5-point strategy includes winning confidence of seniors, promoting engineers, connecting with employees, meeting clients and meeting venture capitalists. 
 
“Infosys was going through a period of internal struggle and turmoil and it came to grips with a generational change in leadership,” said Dipen Sheth, Head-Institutional Research, HDFC Securities, to ET Now. 
 
“By and large the ship has been steadied now. It is a fantastic business. It has got lots of cash on the balance sheet. It has got probably the best or close to the best name that one can think of in terms of brand salience in Indian IT,” he added. 
 
According to him, the inflexion point in Infosys happened when the sentiment was at its worst near Rs 3,000. 
 
“If you will allow me the luxury of hindsight, I do not think there is much that can go wrong unless they shoot themselves in the foot from here on. I do not see how you can lose money in Infosys,” Sheth added. 
 <keyword id="48670" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Morgan-Stanley">Morgan Stanley</keyword> is of the view that Infosys can surprise the street positively on margins. 
 “Going by historical patterns, we think the <keyword id="54324" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="india-business">India business</keyword> will revert to profitability from 2Q15 and could boost Infosys’ overall margins. Overall, we believe Infosys could continue to surprise the Street positively on operating margins, and earnings estimates could further move up over the coming quarters,” the report said. 
 
The brokerage will now be looking for factors such as pickup in revenue growth in 2Q, strong deal wins, sustenance of FY guidance and strategy possibly from the new CEO in the second quarter results. 
 
Morgan Stanley has a target of Rs 4,000 on the stock. 
 
Meanwhile, Jefferies has downgraded the stock to hold from buy. It has cut the price target to Rs 3,520 from Rs 3,675 earlier. According to the brokerage, incremental improvements are a challenge for the company. The margin gains now depend on revenue growth, which is still lacking. For the new management, opportunities are not without challenges, it says. 
 
The stock of Infosys has gained over 8 per cent since its Q1FY15 quarter results reported last month.

Will Vishal Sikka's Strategy Take Infosys Stock To Rs 4,000?

A year ago, when <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> brought back iconic co-founder <keyword id="51793" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="NR-Narayana-Murthy">NR Narayana Murthy</keyword> as executive chairman, about two years after his retirement, in a bid to revive the sagging fortunes of the $8.2-billion <keyword id="2283995" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="IT-behemoth">IT behemoth</keyword>, the decision was welcomed with much fanfare. 
 <keyword id="6359051" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="investors">Investors</keyword>, who showed confidence when Murthy announced a three-year turnaround plan, are worried today. In the months following Murthy's return, Infosys saw exits of some of its top executives. Among others, the company saw resignations of board members <keyword id="376348" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ashok-Vemuri">Ashok Vemuri</keyword>, V Balakrishnan and, more recently, <keyword id="675707" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="BG-Srinivas">BG Srinivas</keyword>. 
 
The three were once seen as top contenders to become the CEO of Infosys after incumbent SD Shibulal’s retirement by January next year. These exits, analysts believe, affected Infosys’ business. SD Shibulal, the chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys, will step down by January next year. 
 
Anil Singhvi, a Shareholder activist, said BG Srinivas' exit had jolted investors. Srinivas, the latest to exit, was president of the company and a man who many saw as the leading contender for the CEO position. 
 
"Whatever Murthy may say in his letters (assuring employees and investors), there is much to be desired in Infosys. In the last three to four months, the company's stock price has dropped from the Rs 3,500 levels to Rs 2,900. The way the markets have been reacting to the Modi factor, one should have seen the Infosys stock price at the Rs 4,000 level," Singhvi said. 
 
He said the genesis of what's happening now is the re-entry of Murthy. "Bringing his son along with him was Murthy's biggest mistake. Many investors at that time were apprehensive but didn't speak out. People in the management who were in the company for 10 to 15 years have quit. At the end of the day, what is the difference between the Gandhi family and the promoters of Infosys? How long do the promoters want to sit at the helm of the company?" he asked. 
 
Shriram Subramanian, founder and MD of independent proxy advisory and governance research firm InGovern, said the departure of several top executives, especially during the CEO selection process, was a concern. 
 
Investors are worried about leadership development and succession planning, he said, and added that several FIIs and one large Indian institutional investor, who he declined to name, had raised concerns about the CEO selection process. 
 
Subramanian also said the promoters should opt out of executive and non-executive roles and should not even be on the board. Such a step will at least make the company a truly widely-held company with no promoter on its board, he added. 
 
Infosys is one of the few, if not the only Indian listed company, where FIIs hold a 42.1% stake and domestic institutional investors hold 13.66% stake. The promoter group holds only 15.94% and retail investors hold 28.3%. 
The Annual General Meeting of Infosys, which is scheduled to be held on June 14, will reveal whether the management will say anything about these concerns of the investors.

Infosys Investors Lose Confidence In Murthy After Exodus Of Top Executives

NEW DELHI: The Indian markets have been on a roll of late, hitting fresh record highs consistently, supported by strong global liquidity and easing of geo-political concerns. 
 The 50-share <keyword id="6354813" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="nifty">Nifty</keyword> index managed to hit a fresh record high of 7929.05 on 22 August 2014, while the <keyword id="6484188" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sensex">Sensex</keyword> recorded its fresh lifetime high of 26,508.27 on 19 August 2014. 
 
Most analysts do not see many triggers which can lead to a big fall in the markets, but given the fact that we are trading at the higher end of the range or near-key resistance levels, some bit of consolidation or correction cannot be ruled out. 
 
However, the broader trend remains to be on the upside. Given the momentum that we have seen in the Indian markets, analysts see the Nifty touching 8000-8200 levels by December-end. 
 
And for the Sensex, the rally may extend to 27000-28000 in the same period, but beyond that the market would require additional triggers to move forward. 
 
“I would assume the market will still be range-bound for the time being, given the fact that valuations are at the upper end of the historical trading band,” said Sanjeev Prasad, Senior Executive Director &amp; Co-Head, Kotak Institutional Equities. 
 “If you look at <keyword id="35140" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="BSE">BSE</keyword> 30 index on a 12-month forward basis, it is already at about 15.5 times, not very different from what you see historically. Band is more like 12.5 to 16-16.5 times. So we are pretty much at the upper end of the trading band,” he added. 
 Prasad is of the view that the scope for re-rating is looking a little big difficult given the fact that most of the <keyword id="6354298" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="stocks">stocks</keyword> have gone up pretty significantly without any meaningful change in the fundamentals as yet or without any meaningful upgrades to earnings so far. 
 
However, analysts are of the view that the party on Dalal Street is likely to carry for some more time aided by strong global liquidity and reform push by the newly-elected Modi government. 
 
On Thursday, Deutsche Bank in its latest report reiterated its positive view on the Indian markets and is confident that the government will move towards big bang reforms progressively. 
 
The global investment bank sees the Sensex touching 28000 by December 2014 end, which translates into an upside of 6.2 per cent from Wednesday’s closing value of 26360.11. 
We have collated list of ten stocks from different brokerages which can deliver up to 34% return in the next 12 months:
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Cox &amp; Kings: Target price set at Rs 360 (Motilal Oswal) 
 
With the recent sale of camping business, Motilal Oswal believes Cox &amp; Kings is on the path of deleveraging its balance sheet with the net debt/equity expected to reduce from 2.4x in FY14 to 1x in FY17E. 
 They believe that Cox &amp; Kings has a balanced portfolio now both in India and international business across categories, which is synergetic to post 30 per cent PAT <keyword id="107168" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="CAGR">CAGR</keyword> over FY15E-17E. 
 
The stock trades at 13.6x FY15E and 10.1x FY16E earnings. It values Cox &amp; Kings at 14x FY16E earnings of INR25.7, with a Buy rating and target price of Rs 360. 
 
Britannia Industries: Target price set at Rs 1320 (Motilal Oswal) 
 
Visible improvement in business fundamentals such as operating margins, return on equity and cash flow from operations and responsive management have driven BRIT's re-rating over the past 18 months. 
 
The brokerage firm expects this re-rating to sustain and gather steam as it premiumizes portfolio and drives cost efficiencies, aiding further margin expansion. As emphasized in its earlier notes, the key change for BRIT compared to three years ago is the ability to defend margins despite unfavorable RM movement. 
 
Monsanto India Ltd: Target price set at Rs 2300 (Motilal Oswal) 
 
Motilal Oswal expects revenue to grow at 17 per cent CAGR and PAT at 23 per cent CAGR over FY14-16. They have downgraded their earnings estimates by 25 per cent for FY15 and by 14 per cent for FY16 to factor in lower than expected growth. 
 The brokerage firm believes <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> made during FY09-12 will start paying off for MCHM in terms of new product launches and market share gains. They remain excited about the huge potential in genetically-modified (GM) foods and MCHM's Roundup Ready Flex. 
 
As per the report, lower than expected earnings led by a poor monsoon could result in a correction in the stock price in the near term, which should be utilized as a buying opportunity. 
 
Kaveri Seeds Company: Target price set at Rs 1045 (Motilal Oswal) 
 
The brokerage firm has upgraded their estimates for FY15E by 3 per cent given the increasing popularity of ATM and Jadoo which will drive the market share gain going forward. 
 
They expect KSCL to be a market leader in the cotton segment in FY16, which should lead to a re-rating in the multiple, going forward. The stock trades at 18.6x and 14x FY15E and FY16E respectively. 
 
<keyword id="6653" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="ICICI-bank">ICICI Bank</keyword> Ltd: Target price set at Rs 1875 
 
Healthy core operations driven by gradual NIM improvement and strong control over opex are leading to strong core ROAs of over 1.6 per cent despite moderate fee income. 
 Improvement in macro-economic environment and <keyword id="6359987" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="resolution">resolution</keyword> of infrastructure bottle-necks shall lead to reduction in NSL. ICICI Bank is well positioned to leverage onto opportunities with core ROA of 1.6 per cent, strong distribution network and capitalization. 
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<keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword>: Target price Rs 4,040 (Prabhudas Lilladher) 
 
The brokerage firm expects new strategic initiatives to be announced by Infosys under the new leadership of Dr. Vishal Sikka. However, in the near term, it sees more tailwinds for margins to be played out in FY15. It sees no downside risks to its estimates. It has revised its target price to Rs 4,040 (from: Rs 3,920), 17x FY16e earnings estimate. 
 
<keyword id="6357149" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="HDFC-bank">HDFC Bank</keyword>: Target price Rs 925 (Prabhudas Lilladher) 
 
Underlying macros remain challenging impacting financials but the brokerage firm sees limited risks to earnings growth as the bank sweats out its branches further and credit costs will get cushioned by floating buffer. 
 
Though profit growth levels have moderated, RORWAs have inched to an all-time high of over 2.6 per cent on improved operating leverage. With intended capital raise, balance sheet will strengthen and improve RoAs further as revenue momentum will start picking up and opex costs increase will be gradual. 
 
State Bank of India: Target price Rs 3,000 (Prabhudas Lilladher) 
 
SBI's asset quality has improved on some ARC sales and better recoveries, though slippages are still high but overall stress seems to be diminishing bringing stability to asset quality. 
 
Opex efficiencies are now kicking in on measures of correction in overheads and also is best placed on pension and wage provisions which will keep Opex growth lowest among peers. 
 
SBI is best placed on provisions and less net additions to staff will keep employee expenses under check which will result in lowest Opex growth among peers in FY15. 
 
Whirlpool of India: Target price set at Rs 580 (Microsec Capital) 
 
The company's P/E has been ranging between the levels of negative 3x to 24x in last ten years. Currently the industry P/E is trading at the levels of 38-41x, much higher than the company's P/E of 36.8x. 
 
Also, the 2 year forward industry P/E is expected to trade at 21x as compared to company's P/E of 12x. We have revised the estimates on higher side. Diversification of products in a single segment, launching of new models and rupee appreciation/ stable commodity prices are likely to increase margins. 
 
Mangalam Cement Ltd: Target price set at Rs 330 (Karvy) 
 
The brokerage firm believes that Mangalam Cement should benefit as cement demand accelerates going forward, from its production ramp-up and from better plant efficiency. The management guided for over 40 per cent volume growth in FY15E ahead of our estimates of 30 per cent. 
 
They have re-iterated their ‘BUY; recommendation with a TP of Rs 330 valuing it at USD55 per MT on its 3.25 mn MT capacity, 4.0x FY16E EBITDA and 2.7x its FY17E EBITDA. 
 
(Views and recommendations expressed in this section are the analysts’ own and do not represent those of EconomicTimes.com. Please consult your financial advisor before taking any position in the stocks mentioned.)

Top Ten Indian Stocks Which Can Give Up To 34% Return In 1 Year

Her paternal grandmother, Kokilaben, stood by husband Dhirubhai but never joined him as he redefined the boundaries of Indian entrepreneurship. Her father’s sisters, or her aunts, were married early into business houses, with little discussion about joining the business: Dipti into the Salgaocar family and Nina into the Kothari family. Her mother, Nita, broke the mould somewhat and has done a fair bit on the business end of the group. But Isha Ambani, 22, is poised to redraw the family-business construct for Reliance women scions. 
 
Last week, ET reported the only daughter of Reliance Industries owner Mukesh Ambani had joined global consultancy McKinsey in the US. Isha, a Yale graduate in psychology and South Asian studies, had joined her father at the Reliance annual general meeting in Mumbai last year. While the company declined comment, corporate observers say the McKinsey stint is probably a stepping stone to larger things in the family business empire. 
 Across India Inc, more and more women scions can be seen at the frontline of their family business. There are some who have made a mark: like Nisa <keyword id="6369697" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Godrej">Godrej</keyword> and Tanya Dubash at the Godrej Group. There are some who are asserting themselves: like Radhika Piramal, the 34-year-old, Harvard-educated managing director of VIP Industries. 
 
And there’s a new lot stepping in: like 30-year-old Gursimran Mann, managing director of Simbhaoli Sugars, and the first woman in four generations of the family to play a hands-on role in its business. According to business historian Gita Piramal, who is also the mother of Radhika Piramal, 20 years ago, she predicted it would take two generations before Indian women in the family business became the done thing. “I find it has taken one generation to do so,” she says. 
 
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Three Pivots Of Change 
 
“It is a belated effect of what is happening in society,” says Ashvini Chopra, MD &amp; CEO of Universal Trustees, a firm that helps business families in succession planning. When it comes to women in business, this change pivots around three aspects. 
 
The first is education. “Parents who would typically give professional education, including overseas exposure, only to their sons are now also encouraging daughters,” says Prabir Jha, chief HR officer, Reliance Group, speaking in general and not in reference to the Ambani family. “Their entry into business responsibilities is then a logical corollary.” 
 
Secondly, family size is shrinking. Joint families are becoming nuclear, resulting in a fall in the number of male heirs. “In many families it’s a father and son and daughter like situation. And daughters are the heir apparent,” says Kavil Ramachandran, Thomas Schmidheiny Chair professor of family business and wealth management at Indian School of Business. “Also many families are realising that girls are as good as, or better than, boys in performance.” 
 
For some like Sulajja Firodia Motwani, vice-chairperson of Kinetic Engineering, all this was a given. “A combination of a good atmosphere at home, freedom to do what we wanted and treating daughters like sons encouraged me to get into the family business,” she says. While she feels this is how it should be, Piramal says it’s still not the case in all families and inequalities manifest themselves in many forms. “We are only half way there,” she says. “There are several prominent business families where daughters are not at the forefront of handling businesses in terms of true equality.” 
 
That leads to the third pivot of change: an amendment in the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, in 2005, which removed gender discrimination in inheritance in Hindu joint families. Previously, only the male line, down to the great-grandson, had inheritance rights. The amendment gives women an equal share in the family business. “Even women married before 1994 can come back and claim equal rights into the family business as well as inherited assets,” says Sameer Tapia, senior partner at ALMT Legal. 
 

	But the exciting, radical change is happening in operations, and Tapia offers some sense of its magnitude. “We have at least 40 per cent family-business clients where women are playing an active role in the family business, and are part of crucial strategy or execution teams.” And many, like the four women profiled here, are leaving an imprint. 
	 

	 
	 
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Through the Ranks 
 
Unlike many, if not most, women scions in India, Lakshmi Venu had a point of reference on the gender question. Her mother, Mallika Srinivasan, is the chairperson and chief executive of tractor company Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited. But Lakshmi, 31, gravitated towards the businesses managed by her father, Venu Srinivasan—auto-component company Sundaram-Clayton and two-wheeler firm TVS Motor. In 2010, Lakshmi was inducted as director-strategy and whole-time director of Sundaram-Clayton. In May 2011, she was also made vice-president in charge of global business strategy at Sundaram-Clayton. 
 
It capped close to a decade of her involvement with the family business. Back in 2003, Lakshmi joined as a management trainee in Sundaram Auto Components. She also did stints in business strategy, design, corporate affairs, and sales and marketing at TVS Motor. Lakshmi declined comment for this profile. 
 
But senior auto industry professional RL Ravichandran, who has worked in a senior position in TVS Motors, says Lakshmi was interested in the business from early on. Even with her impeccable academic qualifications, he adds, she earned her way through various roles. “(It’s why)…there was no resistance from employees when she was inducted on to the board.” 
 
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior TVS manager who interacts with Lakshmi describes her as “level-headed” and “business-like”. She currently manages the entire component business, which includes die cast, rubber, plastics and seats. “She is handling the business well and it is showing results,” he adds. Unlike Lakshmi, brother Sudarshan Venu, 24, had an easier entry into Sundaram-Clayton, joining its board in 2011. 
 
According to VG Ramakrishnan, managing director of Frost &amp; Sullivan, a consultancy, it’s a good sign when scions spend time in the business rather than being parachuted into it. “Children are being groomed to take over executive roles and responsibilities right from the beginning as part of effective succession planning,” he says. “It shows the progressive nature of these companies.” 
 
 In 2011, Lakshmi married Rohan Murty, son of <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> co-founder Narayana Murthy. Her lineage aside, she is seen as a leader in her own right. Anil Singhvi, founder and director of Institutional Investor Advisory Services, a proxy shareholder advisory firm, has been baying against the tendency of business families to induct women scions into the board simply to meet the new rule of minimum women representation. But for Lakshmi, he says: “She is competent to take the business forward.” 
	 

	 
	 
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When a 21-year-old Bhairavi Jani returned from the US in 2000, after a year of working as a supply-chain consultant in KPMG’s Washington DC office, she battled two stereotypes as she tried to make her mark in the male-dominated Indian logistics business industry: gender and age. “There were people who did not want to work with me, who thought I was probably amusing myself for a few years before being married off,” she says. “And then there were customers, even MNCs, who refused to give business to a young woman, who they were sure would fail miserably at logistics planning.” 
 
Her father had thrown her into the deep end, and told Jani to learn to swim. Instead of making her a part of Blue Dart, his flagship before he sold it to DHL in 2004, Tushar Jani stumped his elder daughter by asking her to set up her own venture. “His view was that people from family-owned businesses tend to take things for granted,” says Jani, now 34. “Going through the pain of setting up a venture would teach me two things: never be afraid to take risks and value what it takes to sustain a business.” 
 So, Jani set up i3pl, to provide end-to-end logistics services to corporate clients. After initially struggling for business, i3pl obtained its first client in M&amp;M, and subsequently signed up British Petroleum, Sara Lee and <keyword id="60299" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Walt-Disney">Walt Disney</keyword>, among others. Jani roped in partners in 2003 and, in a planned exit, sold out to them in 2005. 
 
That same year, Jani assumed the role of group director for the SCA Group, which has four verticals: warehousing, supply chain technology, cargo handling and freight forwarding, and shipping, respectively. At present, she provides strategic and operational guidance, operating as a link between the board and professionals; she also directs new projects and is in charge of joint ventures and alliances. 
 
Jani set up the warehousing vertical, via a company called Transmart India, in 2007. Percy Dhunjisha, a former CFO of Blue Dart Express and a person who had worked closely with her father, was her mentor there. He describes her as a searching and questioning manager. “Bhairavi’s management style is, forethought is better than afterthought,” he says. “She does not accept things as they are presented, but will often probe enough with questions to determine whether there is an alternate way of doing things and whether the same has been considered before arriving at the solution presented.” 
 
At SCA, she has her father’s backing. “Daughters are as astute and sharp in financial management, balance sheet and P&amp;L [profit and loss] accounting, says Tushar Jani. “I have always believed in that. Therefore, Bhairavi has always been given full charge of our projects and companies, including P&amp;L responsibility. And like any CEO, she has been answerable to the board.” 
 

	Gender and age still come up in conversations, though. Even today, there are few women in the logistics industry, and Jani still has to face issues of equality with male colleagues and work-life balance. “But I am confident that women in leadership roles in business will pick up sharply,” she concludes. 
	 

	 
	 
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Set up in 1933, Simbhaoli Sugars has seen four generations of the Mann family nurture it. But in that journey, women from the family, though present as shareholders and promoter-directors, were conspicuously absent on the frontline. Gursimran Mann, belonging to the fourth generation, changed that. 
 In 2005, just 21 and out of college, she joined Simbhaoli— a business with inert appeal to the young and a workforce in which women made up less than 1%. In doing so, she was turning her back on options available to her like consulting and investment banking. She even considered joining a consumer products or an agri-trading company, having done internships with Nestle, <keyword id="76102" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Cargill">Cargill</keyword> and ED&amp;F Man. 
 
“It was my decision,” says Mann. She grew up in the Simbhaoli factory compound, in rural Uttar Pradesh, listening to conversations about the business and watching sugar being made. “This background, combined with my training in economics, made me realise the opportunity that existed for me to help grow the business further.” The only child, she did not immediately start reporting to her father and chairman Gurmit Mann. Joining as a trainee, Mann worked in various departments—factory, farm operations and trading —reporting to different people. 
 
“My promotions were not on auto mode,” she says. After completing her MBA from London Business School, Mann became an executive director in 2012 and managing director in July 2013. At Simbhaoli, she counts among her achievements increasing asset utilisation, partnering with global sugar trading company ED&amp;F Man, setting up sugar refinery on the Gujarat coast to tap the import-export play, reducing the cyclical nature of the sugar business by pushing the power and the alcohol business, building a consulting vertical that advises other companies on all things sugar, and raising new capital from private equity. “She has taken the challenge to professionalise the business,” says Devin Narang, India MD of Singapore-based PE fund Sindicatum, which has invested in the company. 
 

	For Mann, it’s all in a day’s work. “There is an overall social and cultural change, leading to a change in mindset among business families regarding acceptance of daughters to take charge,” she says. 
	 

	 
	 
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The middle of three daughters, Arathi Krishna was the first women in her family to join the business, in 1989, when she was just 20. “I had an easy transition into the company,” says Krishna, now joint managing director of auto-component major Sundram Fasteners. “I was easily accepted by employees.” Acceptance from the industry has followed. The 45-year-old spearheads the Rs 2,651 crore company’s domestic business. 
 “This is a logical succession,” says Sonu Iyer, partner &amp; diversity and inclusiveness leader, <keyword id="151258" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Ernst-Young-India">Ernst &amp; Young India</keyword>, a consultancy. “The daughters [younger sister Arundathi is in charge of overseas operations and business development] have grown up in an entrepreneurial set up, and it’s only natural for them to be entrepreneurs and also do it better.” 
 
According to Arathi, her parents gave her an environment to flourish and the freedom to choose. “There was no difference between a son or a daughter,” she says. “My parents are very progressive, willing to take risks and pushed us to pursue our interests. But they never pushed us into the business.” Arathi did an MBA from the US. She stayed on, first to work in automotive strategy with a consulting company and then with Sundram Fasteners for five years. “I knew I would, at some point, come back and join the business,” she says. 
 
“So, I took up jobs in the US that were related to the business. I wanted to make myself worthy when I came back to join the business.” Arathi returned to India in 2006, and became joint MD in 2011. Arathi counts among her achievements making the workforce at Sundram Fastners younger, and the work culture more performance-based and technology oriented. Around 2005, the average age of the Sundram workforce was 40 years; it’s now down to 35 years. 
 
In her earlier years, at industry meets, Arathi would feel out of sorts in what was essentially a man’s world. “But then, I felt it was tougher to work in a Japanese or a Korean company,” she says. At present, 10% of Sundram’s workforce is made of women. “We have always believed in equality at the workplace. We are promoting more women to join the manufacturing ranks in the company.”

Family Businesses In India See Rise Of Women As Promoters And Leaders

Equity benchmark <keyword id="6484188" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="sensex" source="Orion">Sensex</keyword> ended four days of losses on Thursday, buoyed by gains in select banking and auto counters, after the ruling <keyword id="14666" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bjp" source="Orion">BJP</keyword> headed for a record victory in Gujarat but failed to retain <keyword id="6358126" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="himachal-pradesh" source="Orion">Himachal Pradesh</keyword>. Persistent selling by foreign investors and mixed global cues capped the gains, traders said. The 30-share index opened lower but gained momentum as the session progressed, before finally ending 160 points higher at 62,570.68. A total of 13 of its components advanced while 17 declined. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 48.85 points to settle at 18,609.35, with 27 of its constituents closing in the red. Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, L&amp;T, ICICI Bank, Infosys, SBI, Bajaj Finserv and M&amp;M were the major gainers among Sensex stocks, climbing up to 2.71 per cent. <keyword id="44642" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sun-pharma" source="Orion">Sun Pharma</keyword> fell the most by 3.57 per cent after the USFDA listed its Halol facility under an import alert, with products manufactured at the unit now subject to refusal of admission in the US market. PowerGrid, TCS, Nestle, Wipro, Kotak Bank and <keyword id="111876" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bajaj-finance" source="Orion">Bajaj Finance</keyword> were among the other losers. "After touching a record high, the domestic market experienced significant volatility as global markets tumbled due to fear of an economic slowdown and worries over a <keyword id="45672" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="fed" source="Orion">Fed</keyword> rate hike. Recession fears weighed on IT and pharma stocks while banks, especially PSBs, continued to support the bourses. "This volatility is expected to sustain in the global market as we await the Fed policy decision and US inflation numbers due next week," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. On the political front, the BJP was on Thursday poised to retain power in Gujarat for a record seventh straight term but was set to be dethroned by the Congress in Himachal Pradesh, where the hill state followed its long history of an incumbent government being voted out. Riding on the charisma of Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="narendra-modi" source="Orion">Narendra Modi</keyword>, who addressed 31 election rallies in his home state and continued to hold sway over voters, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) steamrolled the opposition that included the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by winning or leading in 157 of the 182 seats in Gujarat with a vote share of nearly 53 per cent. If the trends continue, the BJP would not only beat its best showing till date -- 127 seats in 2002, but also surpass the all-time record set by the Congress party in 1985, when it won 149 seats under the leadership of late Madhavsinh Solanki. In winning a seventh term, the party would also equal the Left Front's feat in West Bengal. "Markets are seeing time-wise correction and weak global cues are delaying the recovery. We feel the consolidation may continue for some time however buoyancy in the banking pack coupled with buying in select index majors may result in a further rebound. "Meanwhile, we recommend continuing with stock-specific trading approach and focusing on buying opportunities," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd. Shares were mixed in Europe and Asia ahead of the release of US jobless data on Thursday and inflation numbers on Friday. US futures turned higher and oil prices rebounded. In Asian trading, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.1 per cent, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 declined 0.4 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 3.4 per cent. Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 dropped 0.8 per cent and South Korea's Kospi declined 0.5 per cent. Brent crude oil gained 28 cents to USD 77.45 per barrel. The rupee consolidated in a narrow range and settled 3 paise higher at 82.44 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, supported by positive domestic equities. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in capital markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,241.87 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/ril-adani-enterprises-are-the-biggest-and-most-consistent-wealth-creators-as-per-motilal-oswal-report/articleshow/96085753.cms">RIL, Adani Enterprises are the biggest and most consistent wealth creators: Motilal Oswal</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/fpis-invest-over-36000-crore-in-indian-equities-in-november-financial-services-is-top-favourite/articleshow/96082197.cms">FPIs invest over ₹36,000 crore in Indian equities in November – Financial services is top favourite</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/rbis-rate-hike-as-expected-but-shaktikanta-das-commentary-still-hawkish-say-analysts/articleshow/96057544.cms">RBI’s lower rate hike as expected, but Das’ commentary still hawkish, say analysts</a>

Sensex snaps 4-session losing run led by PSU banks

<ul><li>Latent View is scheduled to list on stock exchanges on November 23.</li><li>Investors expect a strong listing considering its rising grey market premium, which is currently at ₹360, and robust outlook for analytics companies.</li><li>Latent View Analytics IPO has been subscribed more than Paras Defence and Technologies, which had received the highest subscription so far.</li></ul>Data analytics services company Latent View Analytics’ initial public offering (IPO) is expected to open on a positive note on November 23 although market sentiment may prevail the listing gains. Despite the downward trend in the market amid fear of increasing inflation and rising COVID-19 cases internationally, investors expect a strong listing. One reason for the euphoria is the increasing grey market premium of the company’s shares which rose to ₹360 from ₹285 earlier, as per IPO Watch. “Strong financials with healthy margin profile, leadership position in data and analytics segments, and established relationship with its blue-chip clients are key factors driving the triple-digit premium. Investors expect the company to get listed at a good premium to the IPO price,” Neha Khanna, director at financial advisory firm ValPro said in an IPO note. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Category of investors </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Subscription status </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Qualified institutional investors </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">150.82 times </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Non-institutional investors </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">881.96 times </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Retail </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">123.84 times </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Overall </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">338.51 times </td></tr></tbody></table> Latent View’s IPO was the most subscribed domestic IPO at 338 times, breaking the record set by Paras Defence a few weeks ago (304 times). Some analysts believe that the weakness in the market could impact the stock listing. Valuations and fundamentals of the company look good but the current weakness in the market could impact the listing tomorrow,” Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities, told Business Insider. Further, he said that investors may book profit on the same day of listing if any after a lesson learnt from the case of Paytm and other IPOs, wherein the damage cost of waiting patiently was huge for investors. "Undoubtedly, the analytics industry holds enormous potential to drive business growth and profitability for the shareholders. When Infosys made its initial public offering, it signified the potential of the IT [information technology] industry. Similarly, this coming-of-age chapter of the analytics industry proves that there is an unstoppable opportunity for the industry. We are optimistic about the future of analytics in India and look forward to riding the wave higher than ever,” said Sunil Mirani, co-founder and chief executive at Ugam, an analytics company, in an IPO note. The 15-year old company provides analytics services such as data and analytics consulting, business analytics and insights, advanced predictive analytics, data engineering, and digital solutions. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/paytm-ccd-reliance-power-have-had-the-worst-stock-market-debut/slidelist/87845689.cms">Paytm, Cafe Coffee Day and Reliance Power — here’s are the worst stock market debut ever</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/ril-shares-fall-as-saudi-aramco-has-been-called-off-after-27-months-of-negotiations/articleshow/87841945.cms">Reliance Industries’ investors dump shares after Mukesh Ambani's Aramco deal fails after 27 months of negotiations</a>

You Searched For "Infosys Leadership Institute" and got 12 results

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