British Prime Minister <keyword id="221875" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rishi-Sunak" source="Orion">Rishi Sunak</keyword> and his wife Akshata Murty have made their debut on the UK's '<keyword id="596197" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="Asian-Rich-list" source="Orion">Asian Rich List</keyword> 2022' topped by the <keyword id="840924" type="General" weightage="90" keywordseo="Hinduja-family" source="Orion">Hinduja family</keyword>. Sunak and his wife, whose father N R Narayana Murthy co-founded Indian IT major <keyword id="6354512" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="infosys" botkeyword="" source="ET" sourcekeytype="COMPANY" meta.keywordsubtype="EQ" meta.aliasname="infosys" meta.entityname="Infosys Ltd." meta.entityid="10960" meta.seoname="infosys-ltd">Infosys</keyword>, are ranked 17th on the list, with an estimated wealth of 790 million pounds. The combined wealth of this year's list sits at 113.2 billion pounds, an increase of 13.5 billion pounds over that of last year. The list is topped by the <keyword id="28125" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="hinduja" botkeyword="" source="ET" sourcekeytype="COMPANY" meta.keywordsubtype="EQ" meta.aliasname="hinduja" meta.entityname="Nxtdigital Ltd." meta.entityid="5318" meta.seoname="nxtdigital-ltd">Hinduja</keyword> family for the eighth consecutive time with an estimated wealth of 30.5 billion pounds, an increase of 3 billion pounds from the last year. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan presented a copy of the 'Asian Rich List 2022' to Ritu Chhabria, daughter of Gopichand Hinduja, Co-Chairman of the <keyword id="120582" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="hinduja-group" source="Orion">Hinduja Group</keyword> at the 24th annual Asian Business Awards at the Westminster Park Plaza hotel on Wednesday night. Hinduja Group is an Indian transnational conglomerate. The group is present in eleven sectors. Addressing the gathering, Chief Guest Oliver <keyword id="14278602" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="dowden" source="Orion">Dowden</keyword>, MP, Chancellor of Dutchy of Lancaster, said: "every year, we see the British Asian Community continue to grow in stature which comes as no surprise to me personally." "Throughout my life, I have seen first-hand the hard work, determination and entrepreneurship of the British Asian community. And, of course, in my latest job, I have a British Asian Boss, my very good friend Mr Rishi Sunak, the United Kingdom's first-ever British Asian Prime Minister," Dowden said. Sunak made an impressive comeback to become the UK's first Indian-origin Prime Minister on October 25, seven weeks after he had lost the race for 10 Downing Street to Liz Truss. The 42-year-old investment banker-turned-politician is the youngest British Prime Minister in 210 years and also the UK's first Hindu Prime Minister. "I want to say thank you. The British Asian business community is widely recognised as one of the most successful entrepreneurial groups ever. It is a remarkable story of building businesses creating jobs and amassing wealth. And as outlined in this year's Asian Rich List, Asian entrepreneurs have enriched Britain in all aspects of our national life," Dowden said. This year's Asian Rich list boasts 16 billionaires from the UK, one more than the last year with most of the billionaires seeing their wealth increase or stay the same as last year. Sri <keyword id="1834928" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="prakash-lohia" source="Orion">Prakash Lohia</keyword> and his family have seen the biggest increase in wealth on this year's list, a rise of 4 billion pounds to 8.8 billion pounds. Lakshmi Mittal and his son Aditya (12.8 billion pounds) and Prakash Lohia and family (8.8 billion pounds) and Nirmal Sethia (6.5 billion pounds) are other richest on the list. Shailesh R Solanki, the Executive Editor of Asian Marketing Group (AMG) and the host of the event, said: "The Asian Rich list is carefully compiled by a team of experts and it is the definitive guide to Asian wealth in Britain." SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/radiation-emitted-from-mobile-towers-has-no-ill-effects-on-human-health-experts/articleshow/95743681.cms">Radiation emitted from mobile towers has no ill effects on human health: Experts</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/germany-relaxes-schengen-visa-rules-for-indians/articleshow/95757566.cms">Germany relaxes Schengen visa rules for Indians</a>

UK's Asian Rich list: Hinduja family retain top spot, UK PM Sunak, his wife make debut

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Rishi Sunak will soon become the new prime minister of the UK.</li><li>His family's wealth clocks in at an estimated $825 million, making him one of the richest people in Britain.</li></ul>Rishi Sunak is set to become Britain's newest prime minister, taking over from Liz Truss after her astonishingly short — and chaotic — time in office. Truss's slashing of taxes and subsequent policy U-turns during her brief <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/liz-truss-resigns-as-uk-prime-minister-2022-10">six weeks in office</a> spooked the markets and plunged Britain into <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/recession-uk-economy-tax-cuts-markets-crash-warning-global-leaders-2022-10">financial turmoil</a>. Her aggressive tax-cutting plan coupled with already soaring interest rates and a squeeze on energy prices worldwide has left many Brits with distinct financial worries and in a cost of living crisis.The UK now has more food banks than McDonald's, and many people are making the choice between eating and heating their homes, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-living-there-are-more-food-banks-mcdonalds-uk-2022-9">as Insider's Bethany Dawson reported</a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/29/almost-quarter-of-uk-plans-to-go-without-heating-this-winter-energy-price-cap">The Guardian reported</a> in August that almost a quarter of the country is planning not to turn on the heating this winter. On Monday, October 24, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-penny-mordaunt-next-uk-prime-minister-2022-10">Sunak secured the backing of his Conservative Party to become its leader</a>, thereby becoming the UK's presumptive PM. As a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sunak's grasp of fiscal policy may be welcomed by a country facing immense financial difficulties.However, Sunak also faces fierce criticism for his family's extraordinary wealth. With a net worth that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/14/the-sovereigns-wealth-uk-royal-familys-finances-explained">rivals that of King Charles III</a>, many <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/22/rishi-sunak-rich-730m-fortune-prime-minister">fear</a> that Sunak will not be able to understand the daily financial struggles the British public faces, especially as Britain <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/uk-recession-outlook-liz-truss-quits-economy-tax-goldman-sachs-2022-10">faces the prospect of a painful recession</a>.Political research consultancy <a href="https://comresglobal.com/">Savanta ComRes</a> summed up public sentiment in a tweeted word cloud on Monday, based on the most common responses given to the surveyed question, "How would you describe Rishi Sunak in one word?""Clever," "good," and "okay" were prominently featured, but they were dwarfed by one word: "Rich." At the time of publication, the survey's methodology was not made public.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Savanta ComRes (@SavantaComRes) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1584515625803972613">October 24, 2022</a></blockquote><h2>A privileged childhood</h2>Sunak's parents were <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/rishi-sunak-chancellor-of-the-exchequer-feature">born in colonial Africa</a> — his father, Yashvir, in Kenya, and his mother, Usha, in Tanzania. They met and married in the UK, where his father became a general practitioner and his mother went on to run a pharmacy. In a story for <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/rishi-sunak-chancellor-of-the-exchequer-feature">Tatler</a>, a family friend described the pair as "passionately British." Sunak was educated at Winchester College — a fee-paying school that, in 2022, cost $38,500 to $52,000 a year to attend. In an <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/rishi-sunak-donates-more-than-100-000-to-his-old-boarding-school-winchester-college-12582879">interview with Sky News</a>, he expressed an understanding of how beneficial attending Winchester was for his career: "I was really lucky to have that opportunity. It was something that was really extraordinary, it certainly put my life on a different trajectory."Sunak became head boy at the distinguished boarding school before taking a path well-trodden for British politicians, studying philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford. There, he received a First, the highest accolade for an undergraduate degree. It was during a Fulbright scholarship at Stanford in 2006, where Sunak gained an MBA, that his future fortune first entered his life. It was there where he met Akshata Murthy, the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rishi-sunak-wife-akshata-murty-marriage-b2209298.html">daughter of Infosys billionaire Narayana Murthy</a>. The couple married in 2009 in an extravagant two-day wedding in Bangalore. Together, the couple's wealth is estimated at $825 million, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-first-uk-politician-to-enter-sunday-times-rich-list-2022-5">according to the Sunday Times Rich List</a>, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2022/09/15/how-rich-is-king-charles-iii-inside-the-new-monarchs-outrageous-fortune/?sh=c03f0f6757f1">rivaling the net worth of King Charles III</a>.It's a union that made Sunak <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-first-uk-politician-to-enter-sunday-times-rich-list-2022-5">the first frontline UK politician to enter The Sunday Times' annual wealth listing</a>.<div type="image" title="Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murthy" height="526" width="702" msid="95069520" hostid="261"></div>After becoming the Conservative Party's MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire in 2015, he was soon seen as a rising star and became Boris Johnson's chancellor between 2020 and 2022.In that role, he oversaw several fiscal stimulus measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-business/uk-unveils-420-billion-lifeline-for-firms-hit-by-coronavirus-idUSKBN2140VY">nearly $420 billion lifeline</a> of loan guarantees for affected businesses. But after Johnson was embroiled in numerous scandals, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-ministers-sajid-javid-rishi-sunak-quit-cabinet-2022-7">Sunak resigned</a> and entered the race for the top job himself. <h2>Clumsy displays of wealth</h2>In the leadership election that ensued — which Liz Truss eventually won — Sunak played up his parents' humble beginnings, <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunaks-privileged-childhood-no-27567616">emphasizing</a> how much they had "sacrificed" to give him an expensive education.But despite his attempts to portray a down-to-earth image, the British public has had numerous reminders that Sunak has a very different experience with money than most people. In August, a video clip of Sunak holding his contactless debit card up to the barcode scanner — rather than tapping it on the payment device — went viral, giving the impression that he rarely buys things in person. He <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-admits-someone-teach-27702443">later confessed</a> that someone had to teach him how to use the card reader. In another resurfaced <a href="https://youtu.be/p9bbBYcwFOk">clip</a> from a 2007 interview with the BBC, Sunak suggested he didn't have any "working-class friends."<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—LondonWorld (@LondonWorldCom) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1506995507339616257">March 24, 2022</a></blockquote>He has also come under fire for his overt displays of wealth, including splashy purchases such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/07/rishi-sunak-prepares-for-mini-budget-with-help-of-180-smart-mug">a $200 self-heating "smart" coffee cup</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/jul/30/liz-truss-rishi-sunak-no-10-race-dress-prada-claires-fashion">$500 Prada loafers.</a> ("Values are what are important, what I'm wearing is irrelevant to all of that," Sunak <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/22/rishi-sunak-rich-730m-fortune-prime-minister">told</a> the Guardian about his extravagant purchases.)<div type="image" title="Rishi Sunak" height="3000" width="4000" msid="95069522" hostid="261"></div>Sunak's wealth, however, has provided more than just the odd, embarrassing photo-op. <h2>Tax and visa scandals</h2>In November 2020, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/27/huge-wealth-of-sunaks-family-not-declared-in-ministerial-register">The Guardian reported</a> that Sunak had failed to mention his wife's massive wealth on the ministers' register of interests. While ministers are supposed to declare anything that might represent a conflict of interest, a subsequent investigation found that <a href="https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/sunak-cleared-of-ministerial-code-breach-over-tax-affairs">he had not breached the UK's ministerial code</a>. Earlier this year, Sunak's wife Murthy was also embroiled in a tax scandal after it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/07/rishi-sunaks-wife-says-its-not-relevant-to-say-where-she-pays-tax-overseas">emerged that she had "non-domiciled" status in the UK</a>, which allowed her to avoid paying British taxes on the income she earned abroad, primarily from Murthy's stake in Infosys, which is based in India. Murthy is also the <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fakshata-murty-5a04232%2F%3ForiginalSubdomain%3Duk">director</a> of her father's venture capital firm, Catamaran Ventures, and has shares in several other companies.Around the same time, Sunak faced scrutiny for holding a US green card while he was chancellor, despite his primary residence not being in the US, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-61044847">provoking questions</a> about whether he enjoyed tax benefits as a result. He relinquished his green card in October 2021, according to his spokeswoman.It's yet unclear whether Sunak and his family's wealth will prove to be an issue. His supporters, including British chancellor Jeremy Hunt, argue that Sunak's experience in finance and at the treasury make him the right man for the job."To restore stability and confidence, we need a leader who can be trusted to make difficult choices," Hunt, who will be looking to keep his position as chancellor, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/23/why-backing-rishi-sunak-prime-minister/">wrote</a> in the Daily Telegraph. "We also need someone who can explain those choices to members of the public who are worried about jobs, mortgages and public service. We have a leader who can do just that in Rishi Sunak."Correction: October 25, 2022 — An earlier version of this story misrepresented King Charles III's net worth. It has been updated to reflect that while Rishi Sunak's family's net worth rivals King Charles III, it is not double that of the royal's.Correction: October 25, 2022 — An earlier version of this story overstated Britain's economic crisis. It has been updated to reflect that while the UK faces the prospect of an economic recession, it is not a certainty.

New UK PM Rishi Sunak married into almost $1 billion in tech money, has a net worth that rivals King Charles, and takes over a country struggling to afford heating

Hiya! <a href="https://twitter.com/dandefrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a> checking in from NYC.We've got <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3a4f3808-19fc-4a6e-85b7-ea0df18f079b?accessToken=zwAAAYQLvBfOkc86TzgIGfxKbtOFt-oN8Y8Hmw.MEUCIExUC9mldQPfCLoybJyQPRTu4hZJxz49mbmaZkGWYkYTAiEAwU_foyQ4dMxZ0ue9cegtUWVng2PYV3LcGEf8wl-SQ_o&amp;sharetype=gift&amp;token=65fc0ca9-955d-4ffa-bfd9-8c1bad724ade">famous authors yelling at Jamie Dimon</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rich-russians-offered-caribbean-shortcut-us-visas-grenada-passport-2022-10">rich Russians heading to your favorite all-inclusive</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-losses-facebook-brad-gerstner-open-letter-2022-10">more people complaining about Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse infatuation</a>. But first, there's a new top man in the UK. <hr />If this was forwarded to you,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-on-wall-street"> sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app <a href="https://www.insider.com/app">here</a>.<hr /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-uk-prime-minister-goldman-sachs-junior-analyst-finance-2022-10"></a>1. Can Wall Street fix the UK?The UK has a new prime minister — no, <a href="https://www.insider.com/liz-truss-resignation-wet-lettuce-won-daily-star-pm-2022-10">it's not the head of lettuce</a> — and he comes from the world of Wall Street!Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister, officially became prime minister on Tuesday after meeting with King Charles. The 42-year-old is the UK's first non-white leader and the youngest person to take on the role in more than 200 years.But for the purposes of this newsletter, we're going to focus on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-uk-prime-minister-goldman-sachs-junior-analyst-finance-2022-10">his former life in finance</a>.Sunak's early career reads like a typical Wall Street mogul:-Spend three years working as a junior analyst at a bank (Goldman Sachs). Check.-Get an MBA from a prestigious university; bonus points if you get a fancy scholarship. (Stanford; <a href="https://fulbright75.org/leading-the-uks-covid-19-response-draws-on-a-lifetime-of-making-a-difference/">Fulbright Program</a>). Check and check.-Return to finance to work on the buy side (London-based activist hedge-fund TCI). Check.-Join a startup hedge fund (Theleme Partners). Check.That checklist seemingly points toward a long career in finance, but Sunak had different ideas. In 2015, he won a seat in the British parliament and the rest is history.A politician who started their career on Wall Street might not seem all that surprising in the US, but it's a bit of a novelty in the UK, at least at the highest of levels. Sunak is the first British PM with a background in hedge funds, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/dont-expect-britains-first-hedge-fund-premiership-to-be-smooth-or-enjoyable-ed-conway-12729246">according to Sky News</a>. He's also caught people's attention <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/24/rishi-sunak-net-worth/">for being extremely wealthy</a>. Sunak and Akshata Murty, his wife and the daughter of Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy, have a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-first-uk-politician-to-enter-sunday-times-rich-list-2022-5">combined net worth of roughly 730 million pounds</a>.In fact, Sunak is so rich that people are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/22/rishi-sunak-rich-730m-fortune-prime-minister">asking if he's actually too wealthy to be PM</a>. That's the type of criticism I'd like to receive. Now, whether all that experience helps Sunak fix the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-economy-crisis-us-outlook-uk-liz-truss-policy-blunder-2022-10">dumpster fire that is the British economy</a> remains to be seen. <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-hedge-funds-financial-career-outside-politics-1766725">A report from iNews this June</a> questioned the type of work Sunak did while at TCI, citing his lack of regulatory approvals.But isn't that what politics is all about? Talking a big game but never delivering when it matters.And remember, if all else fails, there is always the head of lettuce.<hr />In other news:<a href="https://www.insider.com/erling-haaland-on-course-to-destroy-premier-league-goalscoring-records-2022-10"></a><div type="image" title="Erling Haaland of Manchester City celebrates their sides fifth goal and their hat trick during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Etihad Stadium." height="1333" width="1778" msid="95080423" hostid="261" sizebytes="91772"></div>2. Remember that UBS-Wealthfront deal that fell apart last month? Turns out that was a microcosm of a much bigger battle going on at the Swiss bank between its CEO and the head of the bank's wealth business. Bloomberg has the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-23/ubs-s-rivalry-at-the-very-top-is-playing-out-underground?sref=5xrDvJna&amp;utm_content=markets&amp;cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&amp;cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-markets#xj4y7vzkg">full scoop on the clashing ideologies of the two UBS execs.</a>3. Malcom Gladwell has reached his tipping point with JPMorgan. The best-selling author sent a letter to Jamie Dimon criticizing the CEO for how the bank has treated Gwen Campbell, his financial advisor, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3a4f3808-19fc-4a6e-85b7-ea0df18f079b?accessToken=zwAAAYQLvBfOkc86TzgIGfxKbtOFt-oN8Y8Hmw.MEUCIExUC9mldQPfCLoybJyQPRTu4hZJxz49mbmaZkGWYkYTAiEAwU_foyQ4dMxZ0ue9cegtUWVng2PYV3LcGEf8wl-SQ_o&amp;sharetype=gift&amp;token=65fc0ca9-955d-4ffa-bfd9-8c1bad724ade">the Financial Times reports</a>. Campbell is in the midst of a nearly two-year battle with the bank over accusations against JPMorgan for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-financial-advisor-complaint-private-bank-clients-merrill-2021-12">attempting to poach her high-profile clients</a>.4. Black founders received just 0.12% of the total funding in Q3, TechCrunch reports. Of the $150.9 billion that was invested in startups last quarter, according to Crunchbase, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/21/black-startup-founders-raised-just-187-million-in-the-third-quarter/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=New:%2010%20Things%20on%20Wall%20Street">only $187 million went to Black entrepreneurs</a>. 5. Nobody seems to want to launch new ESG funds, Bloomberg reports. The number of funds that have either launched or reclassified as ESG has dropped sharply this year. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-24/asset-managers-curb-esg-repurposing-as-regulators-probe-industry?cmpid=BBD102422_MONEYSTUFF&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_term=221024&amp;utm_campaign=moneystuff&amp;sref=5xrDvJna">Find out why</a>.6. Andreessen Horowitz just invested in a startup that helps founders invest in Andreessen Horowitz. If your brain isn't completely in shambles, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-24/andreessen-bets-on-the-coterie-eyeing-tech-s-young-and-wealthy?sref=5xrDvJna">read this story from Bloomberg on the $40 million investment</a>. 7. Don't be surprised if you run into some Russians on your next all-inclusive vacation. Grenada is proving to be an effective loophole for wealthy Russians looking to get US visas. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rich-russians-offered-caribbean-shortcut-us-visas-grenada-passport-2022-10">Here's how it works</a>. 8. Everybody wants Mark Zuckerberg to cool it on the metaverse. Altimeter Capital's Brad Gerstner, whose fund owns a stake in Meta, wrote an open letter to the CEO about how the company has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-losses-facebook-brad-gerstner-open-letter-2022-10">"too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency.</a>"9. Think TikTok is just a silly app that wastes your time and collects all your data? You're not wrong, but you can also get rich off it. A full-time engineer <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-content-creator-spends-earns-tiktok-instagram-youtube-2022-10">explains how he built a side hustle on the app</a>. 10. The most incredible performance in sports right now is Manchester City's Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker is on pace to smash seemingly every scoring record this season. We mapped out how his run this season stacks up <a href="https://www.insider.com/erling-haaland-on-course-to-destroy-premier-league-goalscoring-records-2022-10">against some of the other all-time greats</a>.<hr />Keep updated with the latest business news throughout your day by checking out <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">The Refresh from Insider</a>, a dynamic audio news brief. <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">Listen here.</a><hr />Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffrey_cane">@jeffrey_cane</a>) in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/hallam_bullock">@hallam_bullock</a>) in London.

Meet the wealthy ex-Goldman Sachs junior banker and hedge-fund manager taking over as the UK's new prime minister

<ul><li>Companies have faced significant resistance when they have asked employees to come back to the office. </li><li>The hybrid working model has gained widespread acceptance and is likely to stay. </li><li>Some of the organisations incentivising employees are offering discounted meals, commuting benefits, etc.</li></ul>Life after the pandemic has returned to normal, but for those who had got used to working from home, returning to office is not a preferred option – not yet. Added to that, there is a disparity between how leadership and employees perceive working from home. In June 2020, TCS announced that it will allow 75% employees to <keyword id="123591" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="work-from-home" source="Orion">work from home</keyword> even after the pandemic is over. However, they have now backtracked on that claim. TCS has been encouraging employees to get <keyword id="9081434" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="back-to-office" source="Orion">back to office</keyword> three days a week and has ruled out a scenario where employees can work 100% from home. Infosys founder Narayana Murthy has warned younger employees against moonlighting and asked them not to work from home. Wipro chairman Rishad Premji recently made a statement saying that more employees should work from the office rather than from their homes. And, it’s not just tech companies. As much as 71% of Indian business leaders said that they prefer their employees to work more frequently from the office as opposed to working from home according to C-Level Linkedin Research. fo However, post-Covid, returning to work is a mindset shift. A report by ADP Research Institute reveals that 76.07% of employees in India would prefer having control over their working hours and would take a pay cut to guarantee the flexibility of working remotely or have the opportunity to alternate between home and office. According to a global survey by ResumeBuilder.com, 66% of employers currently require employees to <keyword id="8954729" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="work-from-office" source="Orion">work from office</keyword>, 90% of companies will require employees to return to office in 2023, 21% of companies will fire workers who do not return to the office and 88% of companies are offering incentives to get employees to return, including catered meals, commuter benefits, and higher pay. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="To work or not to work from the office" comment="subhead2" text="To work or not to work from the office">To work or not to work from the office</cmsannotation> Like companies across the world, Indian companies too are trying to adjust to the new normal. “Companies are aware that employee engagement is crucial to their performance. As a result, they have been willing to add some flexibility to the equation. Occasionally working from home for an office job is acceptable, but only with permission.,” says Mayur Taday, chief business officer, TeamLease Services, a staffing and HR firm. However, companies have faced resistance when asking their employees to come back to the office. “Like many other organizations, we encountered significant resistance from employees, particularly those who were working remotely from their hometowns. However, over time, the situation has evolved. A substantial percentage of our workforce attends the office five days a week, while others enjoy the hybrid approach. However, there is a small group of employees who still show resistance,” says Jayita Roy, VP - HR, Adecco India, a staffing and HR solutions company. Tadays says that businesses have been tolerant and non-obtrusive in permitting a gradual transition over the past nine months, but increased adherence is anticipated in the upcoming fiscal year. “Employees have largely adapted to the new normal as a result. However many who want a permanent WFH have looked for or changed jobs and landed WFH roles,” he adds. Organizations across sectors want their employees to come back to office, but each industry has its nuances. According to Pratik Vaidya, Founder &amp; MD, Karma Global, an HR and compliance organization, when it comes to BFSI, the principle is well settled. Even during pandemic times, the entire banking and financial sectors were working normally with all transactions going online. The need for physical presence of a customer in a bank was negligible and this trend continues even today. Hence the second and fourth Saturdaysh as holidays for banking and government offices are widely accepted and there is no likelihood of any change unless the Banking Associations’ demand for all Saturday offs is met by the government. However, in tech the situation is not as simple. “This is because the tech industry’ demographic holds the younger generation of people in the age group of 23 to 30. The vibrant lot seeks nourishing and nurturing of talent, career path and employee friendly workplace which they can consider as their second home,” says Vaidya. Also he says that the younger lot is more inclined towards work from home or a <keyword id="45402" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hybrid-model" source="Orion">hybrid model</keyword>, a mix of both working from office and a few days at home. The mid-level workforce is fully inclined towards the hybrid model so that they are able to stay focussed on their career growth and balance days in remote working, where they can attend to family and personal demands. The senior level is more inclined towards work from office so that they can focus on organizational goals and drive the purpose and objective of the organization. The year 2023 will thus witness a lot of experimentation in organizations. Some will settle down faster, while others will take a little longer to settle, especially those organizations with multi locational units, multi job roles, multi grades and cadres, multi objectives and goals, as expectations will be huge. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Hybrid work could be the future" comment="subhead2" text="Hybrid work could be the future">Hybrid work could be the future</cmsannotation> Linkedin Research has also revealed that 82% Indian leaders believe that hybrid work is expected to stay here for the long term. “It is true that the hybrid working model has gained widespread acceptance and this will become the norm of the future,” says Vaidya. However he adds that it will totally depend on the suitability and needs of an organization. It cannot be a standard practice across. It will vary between industries and organizations. The hybrid model comes with 4 days a week, 3 days a week, 2 days a week, once a week, few times in a month or once in a month. So it will be idealistic for each organization to decide what suits them best taking into account their vision, mission, values, culture, goals and objectives, competition, product demand and penetration, delivery and ultimately customer satisfaction. “The hybrid work model presents an advantageous arrangement for employees, as it empowers them to structure their workweek to suit both their personal needs and the needs of their team,” says Roy. She adds that a substantial percentage of their workforce attends the office five days a week, while others enjoy the hybrid approach. “We don’t see a world where employees return to the office five days a week. For now, it’s one or two days with an emphasis on flexibility,” says Chad Herring, CHRO, Zoominfo, a software and data company. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The way ahead" comment="subhead2" text="The way ahead">The way ahead</cmsannotation> We were taught of this motivational theory of carrot and stick, during school days and it holds its relevance even today. In fact, fortune 500 companies CEOs even today use a combination of carrot and stick which helps them to achieve faster progress. An element of compulsion is necessary at the same time when carrot is being offered as an inducement. Some of the organizations incentivising employees are offering discounted meals, commuting benefits, offering a decent raise, improving office space with re-decor, casual dressing on Fridays, team events on weekends, child care facilities, learning training and development programmes, and so on. At Zoominfo, employees are regularly treated to free lunches at the office. There are also snacks and drinks available at all times. For many, the last few weeks marked the first time many employees met their colleagues in person since they were hired, so teams have planned group lunches and outings. It is accepted that the pandemic has changed the way individuals view their work life as the two years of ingrained family style of work at home, and it will take some time for the employees to come out from this cocoon or home shell. Therefore, it will be imperative to build employee centric and customized work plans depending on each organisation's needs and wants, maintaining a healthy balance between the two. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/yes-bank-shares-tank-over-12-as-3-year-shareholder-lock-in-period-ends/articleshow/98601576.cms">Yes Bank shares tank over 12% as 3-year shareholder lock-in period ends</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/how-does-the-oppo-find-n2-flip-stack-up-against-the-samsung-galaxy-z-flip-4/slidelist/98601155.cms">How does the Oppo Find N2 Flip stack up against the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4?</a>

Companies want their employees back to office, but it is turning out to be difficult

New Delhi, Jan 15 () Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, on Wednesday shared with Indian small and medium businesses his insights on taking risks to start a company, besides talking about his plans for space venture and how Amazon was the best place in the world to fail.
"Amazon is the best place in the world to fail...and the reason for that is we have a lot of practice," Bezos said during his chat session with Amazon India country head Amit Agarwal at SMB-focussed Amazon SMBhav here.
Stating that he believes failures through experiments can sometimes lead to innovation of new things, Bezos also pointed out that operational excellence failures exist and those should be avoided.
"Nobody likes to fail... failure, even when you know it's important and good, it's embarrassing. It doesn't feel good. We're all human. We had a good idea. We thought it was a good idea, and nobody came to the party. That happens. And here's the great thing, though. One success, one winner can pay for dozens and dozens of failures," he said.
Bezos, who is in India this week, said he had flown kites with few children and had enjoyed the time. He spoke about spending summers at his grandfather's ranch from age four through 16.
"I have learnt so much from my grandfather, and I think it is true of many people in rural areas, they are very resourceful and very self-reliant. That really made a big impression on me," he told an enwrapped audience comprising hundreds of small and medium business owners.
The two-day SMBhav event will see business leaders like Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and Future Group's Kishore Biyani.
The event kicked off late, which seemed to irk Murthy, who was to deliver his address at the event on Wednesday morning.
He started his address saying the event was delayed by more than an hour and a half, and therefore, he was paraphrasing his talk as he is "not used to delays".
During his speech, he praised Bezos for his comment that 21st century will be India's century and said it would be the responsibility of people here to make that prediction come true.
"Nearly 85 per cent of India's business output comes from the unorganised sector, about 10 per cent from SMBs (small and medium businesses) and probably 5 per cent from large companies. Therefore, you do play an extremely important role in making 21st century as India's century," he said, adding good work ethic and values are also critical.
Amazon has stake in Cloudtail, a joint venture between Amazon and Murthy's Catamaran Ventures.
Sporting a blue Nehru jacket, Bezos talked about his interest in rockets and rocket propulsion, and how that has influenced his decision to start his space venture Blue Origin.
Asserting that the cost of access to space needs to be lowered, Bezos said: "Long term, if we have to grow our civilisation, we have to use resources in the solar system. We need space entrepreneurs".
From a stable job in 1994 in New York City, Bezos came up with the idea of selling books online.
"I went to my boss, Davis, whom I liked a lot. I went to him and told him that I had this idea to start a company that would sell books on the internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park in New York and listened to me in great detail. He said it sounds like a great idea to me but I think it would be a better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job," Bezos said.
He told the audience that he did not want to have any regrets because of the decision he was to take.
"I pictured myself 80 years old and thinking back on my life at a quite moment of reflection. Would I regret leaving this company in the middle of the year and walking away from my annual bonus?...What I did know is that I had this great Idea, and if I don't try, I will regret never having tried. And I know also, that if I try and fail, I'll never regret having tried and failed," he said.
Bezos embarked on the journey and has since then scaled the Seattle-headquartered Amazon to become a 7,00,000-people strong organisation.
Asked what he would have done if things hadn't worked out, Bezos said: "I would be an extremely happy software programmer somewhere".
He also advised the businesses that they should ensure they hire the right people from whom they can also learn new things. SR SR BAL
BAL

Bezos shares insights on taking risks for a venture, says Amazon 'best place to fail'

New Delhi, Apr 20 () Non-profit body The Akshaya Patra Foundation on Monday said it has already served over 2 crore meals to vulnerable communities like migrant workers and homeless people affected due to the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. As on April 17, the Foundation has cumulatively served 2,19,44,385 meals which include 93,57,839 freshly cooked meals and 3,02,541 food relief kits (1,25,86,546 meal servings) to people in need in various locations across India, an official statement said. The relief feeding endeavour has been initiated in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi and NCR, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. "We have been able to serve over 2 crore meals to people in need during these difficult times due to the collaborative efforts of everyone involved," The Akshaya Patra Foundation Chairman Madhu Pandi Dasa said and thanked everyone for the donation. "I sincerely hope that the situation will improve soon and people will be able to get back to their day-to-day life. Until then, we will continue our efforts to serve as many people as possible," he added. The Foundation said it is using its kitchen network to prepare the meals and deliver them to the centres assigned by the authorities. Simultaneously, packaging centres have been set up in various locations across the country where food relief kits are packed with essential groceries based on the local palate. The kits to be distributed in Bangalore, for instance, contain rice, tur dal, oil, spices, sambar and rasam powder, and vegetables which are known to have a long shelf-life, such as potatoes and pumpkins. Each kit has groceries sufficient for either 42 or 28 meals, it said. In this endeavour, the Foundation said it has been supported by proactive corporate partners and individual donors. For instance, Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy and his family contributed Rs 10 crore from their personal funds toward Akshaya Patra's COVID-19 relief work. Their generous donation has enabled the Foundation to distribute 1.33 lakh food relief kits, which are equivalent to 55,86,000 meals, it said. Several corporate houses, such as the Biocon Foundation, Capgemini, CISCO, Coca–Cola, CLP, Deutsche Bank, DLF Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Gland Pharmaceuticals, HT Parekh Foundation, Hero Moto Corp, Infosys Foundation, LG Electronics, Morgan Stanley, Nestle India, PepsiCo Foundation, Sarojini Trust, Texas Instruments, Vedanta, Vivo, Walmart and many others, have come forward to contribute to the relief feeding endeavour. The Foundation further said it has also received in-kind support for the endeavour with General Mills (Mumbai) donating cookies and cakes for distribution in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Noida, Britannia donating around 20,000 packs of 'Good Day' biscuits to be distributed in Bangalore, and Epigamia donating 17,000 premium yoghurt cups for distribution in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Similarly, Bollywood personalities, such as Hrithik Roshan and Raveena Tandon, have also donated to the Foundation's efforts. Also supporting the Foundation are motivated volunteers who have selflessly come forward at this hour of need. These include volunteering groups, such as Inspiring Indians and Corona Warriors, as well as corporate volunteers from organisations such as the Infosys Foundation and Biocon. LUX HRS

Akshaya Patra serves over 2 cr meals to lockdown-hit vulnerable people

<keyword id="42456" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="ICICI">ICICI</keyword> MD&amp;CEO <keyword id="45875" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chanda-Kochhar">Chanda Kochhar</keyword> received the <keyword id="278446" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Woodrow-Wilson">Woodrow Wilson</keyword> Award for Global Corporate Citizenship from the <keyword id="128074" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Woodrow-Wilson-Centre">Woodrow Wilson Centre</keyword> in Washington DC. She is the first Indian woman to receive the award, which has been received by former Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Infosys founder Narayana Murthy. The award was conferred for demonstrating a commitment to the common good - beyond the bottom line. This is not the first time when Kochhar has received a prestigious award. Time and again, her efforts have been recognised for her role in shaping the retail banking sector in India as well as her contributions to various forums in India and globally. Kochhar received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Carleton University, Canada in 2014. She was conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 2011. Kochhar, who began her career with erstwhile ICICI Limited in 1984, was elevated as Managing Director &amp; CEO of ICICI Bank in 2009. She was instrumental in establishing ICICI Bank during the 1990s, and subsequently headed the infrastructure finance and corporate banking business in ICICI Limited. During 2006-2007, she led the bank’s corporate and international banking businesses. She also chairs the boards of the ICICI Bank’s principal subsidiaries, which include India’s leading private sector life and general insurance companies. Here’s a list of her accolades

ICICI’s Chanda Kochhar gets ‘Woodrow Wilson Award’, becomes first Indian woman to receive it. Here’s how she is nailing it in the finance world

Senapathy ‘Kris’ <keyword id="9991" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gopalakrishnan">Gopalakrishnan</keyword> is a name that resonates with the growth of IT sector in India and the rise of <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword>. ‘Kris’ as he is known popularly was the second last founder-CEO of the home-grown IT giant that spearheaded entrepreneurship in the field of digital transformation through internet technology. While Kris quit the company’s board in 2014, he is far from retired from work. As an ex-president of CII and also the non-executive chairman of Axilor ventures, he promotes start-ups because starting his own business with six other friends in 1981 changed his life. Gopalakrishnan talked to Business Insider about his early life which has made him who he is today.

 

 

 

 

 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="58182579" title="Exclusive: Mahesh Murthy thinks that the future of investing in India isn’t the current Venture Capital Model" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Apr 14, 2017, 7:14 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div> “I was brought up in a world with no internet or even computers, so my knowledge was limited to studies and I devoured books both while studying and in different libraries. I studied at the <keyword id="4469078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="university-of-trivandrum">University of Trivandrum</keyword> and I remember cycling everywhere to get books or to attend classes. My parents encouraged my obsession and even though they wanted me to be a doctor, IIT-Madras happened, and they were encouraging,” Kris explains how he ended up at an IIT. Gopalakrishnan was stoked at the institute where they had the access to the best computers and the college was encouraging innovation at all levels. He recalls an incident where his professor caught him reading on a cycle. ” Professor Mahabala had started this new Fortran programming course that he knew I’d be interested in, and encouraged me to join. That course ignited my love for experimentation and I never looked back at anything else,” Kris says, fondly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="58343343" title="Exclusive: K Ganesh&amp;#39;s Growth Story with Start-ups is Never-ending and Here’s the Next Chapter" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Apr 24, 2017, 5:42 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>












First Entrepreneurial Stint that Worked When it comes to work, Gopalakrishnan counts his stars and says that he was lucky to find people who supported him, no matter what. “I started working at Patni computers in Pune where I met Narayana Murthy. He wanted to start his own venture and asked me to come on board; I couldn’t refuse because I looked up to him as a senior,” Kris recollects. With a dream team and a great manager like Murthy on board, Gopalakrishnan was not worried about him starting up at a young age of 27. He agrees that he was scared to tell his family and when he got married the same year as the incorporation of the company, he waited till the wedding to make the announcement. Luckily, everyone was unfazed and Kris started the first sailing course on the entrepreneurship, smooth. 

 

 

 

 

 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="58292743" title="Exclusive: K. Ganesh Made BigBasket and Portea Medical Blockbusters in India, and This is his Unique Life-story" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Apr 21, 2017, 12:00 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>












Starting up from just Rs. 10,000, Infosys is now worth billions and Gopalakrishnan thinks that it’s all because the company built its way up slowly without any external funding and just focus on the product that they believed would change people’s lives. It did fast track his life and now he’s helping people to let go of their training wheels.

Exclusive: Kris Gopalakrishnan Current Ace Investor and Infosys Founder Reflects Back on his Startup Days

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51811984.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> <keyword id="6360386" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jawaharlal-Nehru">Jawaharlal Nehru</keyword> wrote eight letters to his daughter Indira Gandhi educating her about Indian history and civilisation during his years in prison. Those letters are testimony to people’s belief in hope during dark times in their lives. But in this digital age, sms and whatsapp have overpowered the art of writing letters. Even telegram died in 2013. During such times letters written by <keyword id="45875" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chanda-Kochhar">Chanda Kochhar</keyword> to her daughter Aarti or <keyword id="396965" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="KV-Kamath">KV Kamath</keyword> to his daughter Ajnya or Prakash Padukone to his daughter Deepika Padukone come as refreshing break from the digital age back to the age where paper and ink shared an adorable relationship. 

	Here are 5 letters written by eminent personalities passing on their wisdom to the next generation.
 

	
		1. The letter by the MD and CEO of ICICI, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/We-can-do-a-lot-more-if-we-focus-on-e-governance-says-Chanda-Kochhar/articleshow/50902901.cms">Chanda Kochhar</a>, to her daughter Aarti, a young girl on the threshold of beginning her professional life, is inspirational and insightful. It talks of Kochhar’s personal and professional journey. She tells Aarti, “Even today I can remember the equanimity and calmness with which she (her mother) handled the crisis on hand when my father passed away. You have to handle challenges and emerge stronger from them, rather than allow them to bog you down. I remember how, in late 2008, we were faced with a situation where ICICI Bank’s survival was in jeopardy in the face of a global economic meltdown. The situation was being analysed with a hawk’s eye by major media platforms and debated widely in the public space. The problem started at the peak of the financial crisis in the United States and resulted in investors and customers expressing doubts about the bank, given its exposure to global financial institutions. I got down to work, systematically communicating with all stakeholders... Simultaneously, I also advised staff across the bank’s various branches to lend a sympathetic ear to those depositors who turned up to withdraw their money.” “Aim for the sky but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. It is all about all “those little steps that make the journey complete.” 
	 
	
		2. Kochhar’s mentor and the architect of India’s largest private sector bank, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Now-use-your-voice-to-operate-your-ICICI-Bank-account/articleshow/47418147.cms">ICICI</a>, K.V. Kamath, wrote to his daughter Ajnya how he is inspired by his mother. He says, "Often in the world, women who are homemakers are not given the same place in society that a working woman is given."
	 
	
		3. <keyword id="166683" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shaheen-Mistri">Shaheen Mistri</keyword>, the founder of the NGO Akanksha and the venture Teach For India, chooses to write a profound poem to her daughters Samara and Sana, inspiring them to take on the challenges of life with poise and courage. 
	
		4. PP Chabbria proudly writes, “I grew up a poor unlettered man and it makes me proud to see you so immersed in a career that has the power to change people's lives.”
	 
	
		5. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/7-inspiring-stories-of-the-early-lives-of-Indias-most-successful-people/articleshow/51343288.cms">Narayana Murthy</a> tells his daughter, "The world admires a woman who brings a sense of balance to all the three responsibilities - being a loving wife, a caring mother and a competent career woman."
	 


	 
	(Image credits: indiatimes)

Lessons from the letters written by eminent personalities to their daughters

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/34071511.cms" />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.”

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