Launch week – update

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Vikas Pota

I promised to send regular updates on the progress of the book, so here goes:

I was asked to write a guest column for Business World, in which I offer some nuggets from the interviews I conducted with the entrepreneurs – such as how they are fundamentally different to their Western peers. You can read the article here: http://www.businessworld.in/bw/2010_01_15_Enterprising_India_Inc.html

I’ve also been asked to write a comment piece in the Economic Times of India on what India Inc can teach the world. Let me know if you have any views or ideas to incorporate. On the issue of PR, Real Business Magazine is going to feature two extracts from my book, as are a number of various trade magazines.

With regards to events, we had a small family ceremony this weekend at the legendary Hare Krishna temple in Watford, which used to be George Harrison’s home, where my family invited some close friends to share the moment. Later this week, we have the main UK launch event in which we expect around 150 of our clients, associates, and friends to attend – should be great fun.

On India Inc, the story that caught my attention is the proposed bid by Anil Ambani to acquire the beleagured Hollywood studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), whose back catalogue includes the James Bond series, Ben Hur, The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind – all major blockbusters. Last year, Ambani inked a deal with Steven Spielberg to produce some films together which raised some eyebrows – it’s also one of the major conversations I had with Kishore Lulla, Chairman of Eros, who’s featured in my book.

Feel free to send me your thoughts on what I should write in the Economic Times piece.

If you haven’t already so, you can join the Facebook fan page by clicking here: www.facebook.com/indiaincthebook

India’s soft power is its strongest attribute

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Vikas Pota

It really is no wonder that so many senior figures in the business world hail from the foreign service. After all amongst their jobs as Chairmen, Vice Chairmen and Board Members of large financial institutions and FTSE 100 firms, champagne drinking and hob-nobbing are as much part of their jobs as is holding the executive to account, which is why a career is the FCO is a great way to learn how to work a room.

So at the Foreign Secretary’s Christmas reception this evening, I bumped into Sir Thomas Harris, Vice Chair of Standard Chartered (and former FCO diplomat) and probed him about India; which unsurprisingly, he told me he has been visiting since 1973 – a time when his first trip took him to Calcutta, as it was known then. He spoke with such fondness of India, that I asked him what he felt was India’s biggest attribute – its economic might, her military strength, its nuclear programme, its market potential… to which he echoed what Shashi Tharoor recently said at TED India (http://www.ted.com/talks/shashi_tharoor.html) , that her ‘soft power’ is her biggest and most attractive feature.

Lo and behold, Stephen Green – Chairman of HSBC came along and reiterated what Tom Harris had said, and spoke volumes about his personal affection, beyond economics, for India and the sub-continent.

Just maybe at times, we need to sit back and really reflect on the lure of India. These two gents I spoke with today, had no reason to say what they did, but it does strike me that India’s soft power needs to be given more prominence and airtime, which I hope to do when I speak about my forthcoming book.

This is one of the main reasons I’ve selected Subhash Chandra, Chairman of Zee TV and Kishore Lulla, CEO of Eros Entertainment – as they’ve probably done more to push the Indian agenda internationally than most other conglomerates in India.

India Inc: …

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Vikas Pota

I’ve got a small dilemma that I need your help in resolving. You may be aware that for the last two years or so, I’ve been writing a book on the emergence of Indian companies in international markets, and have profiled ten Indian CEOs / entrepreneurs / promoters such as Narayana Murthy, Baba Kalyani, Subhash Chandra, Malvinder Singh, Kishore Lulla etc. who have lead the charge to globalise their firms.

Well, I’ve now finished writing the book and can now focus on the presentational aspects of the project, of which, the most important being (at least for today) the title of the book. My original choice was: ‘India Inc: How India’s Top Ten Business Leaders are Winning Globally’. However, as a result of the economic downturn, is this title appropriate, given that the world has been turned on it’s head as a result of the banking crisis and subsequent global recession?

It would seem a little to extravagant to use the original title in the environment we’re currently in.

For this reason, I’m searching for something appropriate as a subtitle to ‘India Inc: xyz…’. Or is ‘India Inc.’ substantial enough?

Your ideas are welcome.

Slumdog Millionaire Shines for India

Posted on January 28, 2009 by Vikas Pota

What a film! I finally got around to watching Slumdog Millionaire last night and have to say that for once, the film exceeded all the hype that’s been thrusted on us since its release.

Quite uncharacteristically for a Gujarati to shower superlatives on someone else, but I have to break tradition and insist that we salute Danny Boyle for his direction, AR Rahman for a beautiful sountrack, and of course, Vikas Swarup for writing the book in the first place.

I can understand the reasons that some people – mainly Indians – are kicking off about the film – it shows India’s shameful poverty like no other film has – and in these times of intoxicating economic growth – I can see why they’d want a better narrative to portray India, but let’s not forget that a third of the world’s poor reside in the motherland.

Not surprisingly, those non-Indians who’ve watched the film – who i’ve spoken with over the past few weeks, have all said that despite the poverty depicted, they’d love to visit India.

Even if Slumdog walks away without winning any Oscars this year, this film will have done more for India and Bollywood than the past two decades of films (since Gandhi), heavy investment for the Incredible India advertising campaigns, her cricketing prowess, and diplomacy of India’s elite foreign service, all bundled together!

I recently interviewed Kishore Lulla, CEO of Eros, which is India’s most successful film production and distribution company, for a book I’m writing on Indian business going global, and it was he, who prophetically said that India’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon would come from nowhere – a total suprise at a totally unexpected time. Looks like he may have been right.

Slumdog, at least in my opinion, should surpass the impact of Crouching Tiger, as it speaks volumes not just about the Indian film industry but for modern India as a whole, unlike its Chinese equivalent, which for me demonstrated how far its industry had come along. In the case of Slumdog, its not Danny Boyle, Anil Kapoor, or even Dev Patel that’s on show, the story is simply about India.

Brilliant film, a must see for anyone interested in India.