Based on 15 case studies of the State Bank of India, Wipro and Infosys, Hero Honda, Reliance, Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Lever, Housing and Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) etc, the book focuses on how companies can improve dramatically within the existing set-up of infrastructure and work-force.

The freelance journalist and Phd-holder in business history, who spends half the year in Mumbai and half in London, says the book is a result of an analysis of intensive interviews with 20-25 employees each, of the companies covered, at all levels of operations. ``We asked them fundamental questions about what had changed in the company over the last two years.''

In Pune to speak on `Indian Business: strategies for the next century,' at the Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship Development (IMED), she advocated development of swadeshi technology to survive the future. The only way to overcome the depression, she said, is with the courage to invest huge amounts of money in customer research and training of employees.

``Money is always to litter,'' she quipped. ``You can never be too rich or too thin.''

Another book from Piramal, presently the Director of Corporate Communications at Blow Plast Limited, is `Business Mantras,' a ``fun book on business quotations of Indian entrepreneurs and managers''.

``Why should we always read what Lee Iacocca has to say?'' she asks.