February 28, 2000

Those missing VIPs

Parvez Damania may have lost an airline, but he continues to be the toast of the media gossip columns. Yet, a business paper last week carried an ad by the Pune Judicial Magistrates proclaiming that Parvez C. Damania, MD of Agreetech Hatcheries Foods Ltd, C/o Sahara Airline had dishonoured a cheque (an offence punishable under the Negotiable Instruments Act). Damania has been asked to present himself in court on April 7. Isn’t it strange that he is so high profile and visible but not available to the court? Some time ago, another newspaper carried a similar ad for an offence under the same Act, proclaiming that Hiroo Advani of the Business India group and a high profile lawyer was missing. Soon after the magazine was conducting a hugely high profile awards function to hand over the Businessman of the Year award even as former employees were holding demonstrations to recover their dues. These days the gossip pages carry lurid details about the lavish nuptials of the heir to a sick and still bleeding company which owes huge funds to banks and institutions. So long as the social cache of individual businessmen remains divorced from their financial operations, corporate governance — whether administered by SEBI or touted by CII —will simply remain a talking point.

The good, the bad and the transparent

HDFC Bank organised a ‘Mutual Fund Utsav’ paid for by Kotak, to drum up subscriptions for Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund. The mela comprised a display of MF brochures with a couple of young executives distributing forms and giving advice. It was an eye-opener. A young man gave me a closely typed sheet with five to six recommendations in three MF categories — Equity, Income Funds and Liquid Funds. SBIMF, a good performer, is not among these. Why isn’t SBIMF here, I ask. Young man says: ‘‘Because they refused to give us all the information we wanted.’’ But isn’t the information publicly available, I persist? Because the paper says that they rely on such information. The young man begins to get irritated. So I ask about IL&FS Mutual Fund — ‘‘Doesn’t it figure?’’ Answer: ‘‘No ma’am’’. What about Taurus (Now IL&FS Venture Fund)? “No.” ‘‘What about Sun F&C. Isn’t that good either?’’ Answer: No ma’am Sun F&C isn’t good for investment, that is what our research says. We don’t have the forms either. Such transparency surely should make the Malegam committee happy. After all Deepak Parekh, HDFC chief, is also Chairman of IL&FS and a stakeholder in the company. HDFC Bank is not only an associate of IL&FS but the top management of HDFC and IL&FS are very friendly. As for SBI, it is also part of the extended HDFC family with a 5 per cent stake in IL&FS. Let’s see how the market reacts to his transparency.

VSNL and the service culture

VSNL needs to do a lot more than spend huge amounts of money on advertising its internet services. A friend had to wait for over two hours after making a cash payment to collect a start-up kit. That wasn’t all. When she opened the package, the starter CD was missing. In a panic she rushed back to VSNL the next day and ran into others with a similar problem. VSNL simply replaced the CD package without question. Our source says that since the internet-start up kit is a do-it-yourself ensemble, it can probably be sold at book-stores and at road-signals as is popular in Mumbai. The number of hours of internet time bought will depend on the money paid. Incidentally, VSNL’s arch rival MTNL is planning exactly such a sales strategy. The race for internet connections is now a two-horse one, if the rivalry between the two intensifies it’ll only be welcomed by customers.

The Premji wealth meter

Now up and now down. All it takes is two days for Aziz Premji to slip from being the second richest man in the world to ninth or lower. Surely newspapers who hype up the upward graph of his magic valuation should inform people as regularly about the shearing away of that value. No wonder Premji himself is so impassive and unaffected by all the hoopla about his incredible paper wealth.

 

Updated weekly.

The author's e-mail address is: suchetadalal@yahoo.com

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