He was awkwardly tall and lanky and his slim figure only added to his awkwardness. He had a deep bass, but probably the audience hadn’t heard a voice like him before, so he had to struggle for acceptability. While the trio of Dilip, Raj, Dev and the next set comprising Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor were dominating the scenario, a new phenomenon called Rajesh Khanna had stolen the heart of the youth, becoming the nation’s first superstar. Under such circumstances, Amitabh had to struggle and struggle hard and then with a combination of hard work, talent and luck, Zanjeer happened and a young angry man, the new superstar was born, who was destined to rule like no one before him. And after more than 5 decades of almost unhindered reign, the megastar, who turns 80, continues to be the busiest and the most visible star. He’s hosting the umpteenth season of KBC, emerging as the most popular and the strongest brand ambassador, virtually selling everything and has filmmakers especially writing roles for him.

And he has led no ordinary life. His unconventional looks were accepted after a long struggle, he changed the texture of Hindi movies from romanticism to high action and he defeated death. After the unfortunate accident on the sets of Coolie, the superstar fought with death for months together with his millions of fans praying for his recovery. In fact, for a few seconds, death seemed to have won ; but he fought back with indefatigable spirit – the one he demonstrated in his umpteen movies while fighting the fiendish evils.

Naming his movies is not important for the collage of his work will make him immortal, the Mahanayak of the century ! And was he free from controversies is a topic that we should not allow to spoil the happiness of the occasion. Let’s just wish the Mahanayak a happy 80th birthday and a long and healthy life so that he continues to do what he does best – entertain millions of his fans with his all round work!

Is the current state of the Indian economy good, mediocre or bad? Why are the policy rates being upwardly revised repeatedly? Has the entire benefit being passed on to the Bank’s depositors by banks? Has savings momentum increased perceptibly as reflected in fortnightly aggregate bank deposits number? Isn’t increase in policy rates, passed on by banks to their borrowers, significantly increasing the cost of credit and hence overall input cost contributing to price increase and inflation? Is rupee depreciation in relation to dollar good for Indian economy or not? Why is there current account deficit? When a common man can’t, how can governments spend more than what they earn? If GST and tax collections are so robust, why the same is not reflected in macro indicators? Is the cost of administration ( includes governance also) becoming prohibitively expensive and eating into developmental outlays? Has the monsoons been good and sowing  targets achieved? Is the food security cause for concern and if not, why export of certain specific items is banned? 

I wished I comprehended this subject called economics in it’s true perspective! I request the subject matter experts to pool in their expertise for some simple solutions to some of the questions raised above instead of giving individualistic opinions that only add to the prevailing chaos! 

Dussehra commemorates victory of goodness over evil. I am not sure if in our lifetimes another avatar of Lord Vishnu will take birth in human form to slay modern day Ravana, but let’s resolve to kill the evils that are at least in our control:

(1) Let’s conserve nature, more so water, and avoid wastage in all forms

(2) Let’s keep our cities, towns, villages, neighbourhoods clean.

(3) Let’s make India free of outdoor defecation and provide access to clean toilets to all

(4) Let’s get over the political stereotypes of religion, cast and gender and treat everyone as equal and the Indianness as the common faith

The above are simple dos that are not preachy in nature, being already followed by the author in letter and spirit. If we kill the above Ravanas namely pollution, shortage, dirtiness, communalism and casteism, several other demons will automatically commit suicide.

This Dussehra apart from burning the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnaad, let’s also bury the hatchet of aforesaid evils.

Happy Dussehra!

A news item that caught my attention and surprised me was that in Q2 ended 30/9:2022, Honda has overtaken its erstwhile JV partner Hero Motors by selling more number of two wheelers. Of course, this can be sliced and diced further, which for me is a mere conjecture at this stage for want of further details. My guess is:

(1) Hero must have sold larger number of bikes than Honda, but Honda would have overtaken it given the combined numbers of bikes and scooters. In scooters, Honda has, for years, ruled the market with Activa.

(2) Hero would be continuing to uphold its position as the world’s largest two wheeler company, given its sizeable export market. 

However, there’s another way of looking at it. It’s a multinational giant beating a homegrown venture in its own backyard. Of course, I do not subscribe to this rather coloured view. When we talk of global economy, it means removal of all barriers and consumers’ right to access the best at the most competitive pricing. When our Sensex has so much dependence on inflows from foreign investors and when we invite behemoths like Apple to make India their manufacturing hub, then we cannot be talking of protectionism of any form to domestic companies. 

Also, while one does feel for Hero, which so far has managed the show quite well without Honda, we should not forget that in the passenger car segment, number two position occupied by Hyundai is being seriously challenged by Tata Motors and M&M. In any case, these Indian companies are already ahead of giants like Honda and Toyota. During my recent visit to Johannesburg, it gladdened my heart to see Mahindra’s vehicles competing with world’s leading brand and doing reasonably well. 

To sum up, you win some you lose some, but it’s important to maintain level playing field. Companies should continue to invest in technology and product innovation and not make the mistake for taking consumers for granted. 

Knowing the marketing muscle of Hero, I will not be surprised if the rank order changes once again in Hero’s favour in one of the coming quarters! 

All the best Hero! All the best free market! 

We visit a shop in the old market area of Kalbadevi in Mumbai that sells bed sheets, towels, linens etc. A small nondescript shop, it caters to a dedicated set of repeat customers, who trust the quality and pricing and value personal touch. For years, we have seen the same person assisting the owner in managing the shop. During my last visit, I couldn’t help but ask the person about number of years spent by him at the shop. Expectedly, he joined there immediately upon finishing his school and was on the verge of completing 4 decades of his association with the owner. I tried to analyse the reason for such longevity of a person at a simple trading shop! Has he not attrited because of his limited qualification or is it due to his lack of skills to pursue any other activity? Has the owner used any of the well practised retention strategies – ESOP, promotion, hefty bonus, HR initiatives etc? The answer to both the questions is rather elusive.

This is the case of an ordinarily educated and skilled person sticking to a workplace probably due to severe limitations that would bar him from doing anything more rewarding. But what about highly educated and skilled personnel spending a lifetime in the house of TATAs and Birlas, retiring from the companies after holding senior positions that they joined as apprentices and trainees? 

I think it’s something to do with personal touch that some of the business houses and entrepreneurs provide that set them apart from hordes of other companies that are today witnessing unprecedented attrition rates! People are people and they do have bad times that could impact their performance and output. But whether such people need to be thrown out appraised on a mathematics based PMS or need to be helped in seeing through their difficult phase, is a question that companies and their managers need to ask themselves! 

It’s indeed true that today’s generation is more impetuous, restless and ambitious and there are wider opportunities available to them to shift. But there are organisations who are ready to invest in their people – not only in training and upskilling them- but by going that extra mile in touching their hearts. My take is that this cut throat competition amongst organisations for the best talent is going to persist and similarly good talent is going to be flooded with a plethora of opportunities. Organisations that capture the hearts of this talented and precious lot will succeed in longer run in addressing this acute problem of attrition that the corporate world is trying to grapple with.

Came across the following beautiful thought received today morning from one of my WhatsApp connections:

“The entire search of our life is motivated by the belief that there is a better tomorrow.”

The above words read like gospel truth to me. That’s what has kept me going and sustained me all this while.

And mind you, I am out of an active job and doing nothing in particular. There are no concrete plans for near or distant future. I don’t possess any specialised skill set either that I can put to use to earn some money or contribute meaningfully to the cause of the society or nation. Above all I am not planning to pursue any activity – either as a hobby or a new skill to keep myself occupied.

Yet I haven’t stopped dreaming about a better tomorrow. Knowing fully well that from here onwards, money supply will be limited or at least it will not be expanding, health will only deteriorate ( bones have already started creaking), new acquisitions or possessions will be severely curtailed …… I can go on and on with such downcast aspects – but it’s the human spirit that sustains one’s belief in a tomorrow that’s better than today.

It’s not as if there’s no basis for the above belief and it’s only a pipe dream, notwithstanding the above setbacks as enumerated! There are hopes of children ( immediate and grand) achieving what we failed to do, travelling to lands hitherto unseen, meditating for peaceful mind and healthy body, sharing my learning and experiences with abide seekers and having a country that’s the best in the world ! Objectives might have changed from being personal to more abstract, the belief for a better tomorrow subsists and will, most likely, sustain till the last breath.

Grand old lady of Bollywood music, the nightingale of India, goddess Saraswati personified, Lata Mangeshkar would have turned 93 today. Cruel clutches of death snatched her from amongst us and we lost the most mellifluous voice ever forever.

Her story is well known – how she struggled in her early days as the responsibility of the entire family comprising 4 other siblings fell on her young and frail shoulders following the premature death of the family patriarch Pt Dinanath Mangeshkar, how her voice was initially rejected by music directors as too thin and how she overcame her Marathi background to master finer nuances of Urdu are the facts that now form part of the folklore. But her domination of Hindi playback music scenario from late 40s to early 90s that’s almost 5 decades is unparalleled and legendary. Not that she stopped singing altogether by the turn of the century, but she became particularly selective about the kind of work. She indeed sang some memorable ditties for today’s music makers such as Rahman, Jatin Lalit, Shankar Ehsan Loy but her best of work was spread over the three decades of 50s, 60s and 70s.

There’s no point in listing out specific songs of a songstress who sang thousands of songs in almost all Indian languages. Only thing we can conclude is that Lata was very special and talent like Lata is born once in centuries. She will always remain in the hearts of music lovers through her innumerable unforgettable songs!

Let’s pray for her soul to rest in peace!

Many of my readers are rather surprised at my reduced output of fresh blogs. The expectation was that having retired from active service, my writing would become more prolific. However, for a considerable period post my retirement, I was with my daughter’s family where the two munchkins kept me busy leaving me with no time or thought for writing. However, of late, in spite of abundant time, I have not felt inspired to pen something new. May be, when I was working, I was coming across people and events that triggered ideas for a blog. Now that I am hardly meeting or interacting with a large set of people, the new ideas seem to have dried up. Current affairs, my other passion, seem to be hitting a new low that’s providing me with a solid reason to stay away from the realm of politics. In fact questions such as are the events in Maharashtra and Bihar similar or while one is virtuous and ethical the other is vicious and unethical? What’s now happening in Jharkhand? News were prophesying imminent and immediate fall of Hemant government! Is RG’s padyatra a hit or a flop? Is it going to reverse sagging fortunes of congress? Now that Ghulam Nabi Azad has severed connections with Congress, what’s going to his next step? And what Captain Amarinder Singh is going to bring on the table for BJP? What’s happening in Canada where Khalistan movement seems to be getting revived? And who were responsible for riots in Manchester? What’s going to be Hon’ble Supreme Court’s last word on Hijab controversy? What’s all this hullabaloo about PFI and why it was proliferating till date?

On top of it, we hear about an uneven monsoon that’s led to shortfall in sowing targets that, in turn, could add to food inflation! And while Russia Ukraine war seems to be unceasing, there are new frontiers being opened in the erstwhile Soviet states!

I must confess, it’s all very negative and very uninspiring for an eternal optimist and a positive thinker like me. I am not sure what could clear these dark clouds hovering above us and bring peace, prosperity and happiness.

May be it could happen from now onwards, today being Mahalaya, the start of Durga Puja celebrations and nine days of fun and frolic beginning with the first Navratri tomorrow.

Happy Mahalaya and Navratri! Let the colours of Navratri paint our lives in the most vibrant colours.

As per dictionary, triumvirate is referred to a group of three men holding power in Ancient Rome, in particular ( the First Triumvirate ) the unofficial coalition of Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus in 60 BC and ( the Second Triumvirate ) a coalition formed by Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian in 43 BC. In Hindu mythology we have our own triumvirate of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, more precisely referred to as holy trinity.

The above thoughts came to mind while pondering over the retirement of Roger Federer after a glorious tennis career. Along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, this triumvirate ruled the tennis world for more than 2 decades splitting a large number of grand slam and other important titles amongst them. In my school days, when I first started following tennis closely, there was a triumvirate that included an Indian prodigy and was popularly known as ABC of world tennis- the abbreviation for Amritraj, Borg and Connors. Unfortunately, Amritraj couldn’t keep pace with other two and later on a brilliant braggart McEnroe completed the triumvirate. Later on we had three brilliant American stars in Sampras, Courier and Agassi forming a triumvirate and dominating world tennis for pretty long period.

And this triumvirate concept is not restricted only to tennis for that matter. Another field where we have witnessed triumvirate repeatedly is our very own Bollywood. The first triumvirate of Dev, Dilip and Raj dominated silver screen for almost two decades till the next set comprising Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh ( not officially known as triumvirate due to certain periods that did not overlap) and for more than last two decades the Khan triumvirate of Shahrukh, Aamir and Salman have dominated Bollywood almost overshadowing the original triumvirate. And how can we ever forget the male singing triumvirate of Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore who left such a deep imprint that subsequently we had a new singer who’d be clone of one of the aforesaid three!

It would be interesting if my readers can suggest more such triumvirates that could form the basis of another blog on this theme.

Two recent news items, both relating to Adani group, caught my attention. The first was of course the joyous news of Gautam Adani having attained the third spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of USD 148 Billion ( Rs11.85 lakh crore) The Ahmedabad based businessman with interest in ports, gas, power, real estate etc overtook Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the third richest person on the earth. This news added with the news of India displacing Britain as the fifth largest economy in the world speaks well of the India’s economic reforms working out wonders! 

The second news that came on the heels of Gautam Adani’s momentous achievement was something to worry about. It spoke about the debt overhang of the Adani group that at the last count seemingly rested at Rs2.22 lakh crore. 

I interpret the above in the following ways:

(1) Given the nature of industries that Adani group has invested in – gas, power, ports, infrastructure et al – that are all capital intensive, the debt ought to be quite large.

(2) While Rs2.22 lakh crore appears a humongous figure on standalone basis, if compared to Gautam Adani’s personal net worth, it appears rather minuscule.

(3) While the net worth is personal, debt is corporate and debt to equity needs to be evaluated for individual companies that have borrowed the amounts, rather than on the basis of personal net worth. 

Like we have systematically important banks ( SIBs) that are considered too large to be allowed to fail and are therefore, required to comply with certain additional regulations, I feel we should also have similar categorisation for corporates ( preferably groups – if not possible for groups, at least for individual companies). We have seen in the past that whenever a big group went bust, the damage to the banking sector and the economy was very severe. 

A stitch in time can save nine. While I have no reason to doubt the quality of corporate governance, some additional monitoring at Government/RBI level can lead to timely course correction if there are head winds. And this recommendation is not exclusively for Adani but all those group/ corporate where they debt leverage is rather high , say above Rs50000 crore!