December 11, 2000

Warring no more
The Arun Bajoria bid on Bombay Dyeing seems to have fizzled off without even the benefit of a greenmail payoff. But the threat had its own interesting fall out. The Ambanis made it a point to quickly assure a panicky Nusli Wadia that they would play no role in the takeover bid, and their quick assurance is understood to have brought the warring factions close. It probably because Nusli knows that Dhirubhai could have funded the acquisition of Bombay Dyeing. Though the war between Ambani and Wadia is long over, the peace that was brokered by a well known lawyer was more in the nature of an armed truce. The Bajoria episode, say our sources, created a distinct thaw, so much so that the two are even discussing mutual business interests – namely paraxylene.

Farewell to a fighter
Journalists and editors who covered the vicious war between Reliance and Nusli Wadia are saddened that a booming voice of those days is no more. Jamnadas Moorjani, a veritable treasure house of information on the textile trade passed away on Thursday night. Apart from being a source of exact information it was his ready laughter, razor sharp mind, readiness to share information. Anybody who covered Indian business or politics those days, simply had to know Moorjani. Often when he spied a by-line attached to interesting reports, he made it his business to know the scribe. As head of the All India Crimpers Association in 1982, he got into a dangerous war with the Ambanis over a hike in yarn duty which was allegedly engineered by the business house. Soon he was firmly in the Indian Express-Nusli Wadia-Gurumurthy camp and a regular at Express Towers. In the last few years, after a bout of severe illness, he had withdrawn from all battles and concentrated on social work, charity and helping friends. But call him up about a specific issue and the old fire was back. Jamnadas Moorjani was an institution and he will be sorely missed.

Malegam ahead of Tarapore
Market intermediaries may quibble, but the Malegam committee’s decision to quickly endorse the Tarapore committee suggestion that price sensitive information such as results should be reported immediately to the stock exchanges is a welcome move. Unscrupulous company directors taking advantage of privileged information are not peculiar to India. On the other hand, there are far too many cases of directors putting mobile phones to good use on the pretext of visiting the toilet. Why results, even the deliberations at the SEBI have the habit of leaking to the market even when the meeting is still in session.

Busy with ABCL
Last week we were informed about what makes for true social clout. It is when the doorman at The Oberoi do not send your self driven car down to the basement parking but let it occupy the crowded driveway. Until suitably enlightened, I used to think the privilege simply depends on the size of the tip. Parked in the drive that day was a Lexus, a black Cadillac and just around the corner, occupying an even more no-no spot was a huge, ugly , well worn LCV. The last named, by the very act of parking on a usually a no-stopping-or-parking zone signalled the clout of its owner – Amitabh Bachchan. The other two cars belong to his financiers and newly acquired friends – Ketan Parekh and Vinay Maloo.

Not just the chairman
Even as the government gets ready to appoint a new chairman at IDBI, there are several other changes that are happening at top speed. Apart from the chairman, three of the directors are due to retire by rotation, they are — Kulwant Rai, Basant Raj and R P Goenka. It is probably a good time to get in truly independent directors who are not connected with defaulting companies. Incidentally, the new chairman will find a few changes in the organisational structure of IDBI when he takes over. For starters there will be 10 executive directors and 25 chief general managers (CGMs)after six promotions. In other words, pressure on the bottomline is countered by making the organisation top heavy – a sure recipe for stunting growth.

Updated weekly.

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

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