Monthly Archives: May 2009

The future of family owned businesses in India

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The dominance of family owned businesses in India is well known. However, has what Malvinder Singh done with Ranbaxy shown us what’s to come in years ahead?

For those not watching, Malvinder Singh was the Chairman & CEO of Ranbaxy, India’s largest pharmaceuticals company, who decided that he’s had enough and stepped down.

Ranbaxy was bought by Malvinder’s grandfather, who saw the opportunity in the generics market of India for low cost drugs. Malvinder’s father took charge and grew the business to spectacular levels and took it to a global platform. Malvinder was initiated into the business when his father was diagnosed with cancer. He took on various minor roles in a short span and then emerged as the CEO.

During his apprenticeship, the role of leading Ranbaxy was instituted in a professional CEO – one who wasn’t a member of the family – and at that time, the general public saw this as a positive move and various commentators suggested that the future had arrived. Little did they realise that Malvinder would take charge and sweep aside the same professional management that they had put in place. In fact, Malvinder went that step further and argued that just because his family owned a majority stake didn’t mean he wasn’t “professional” or “qualified” to lead the firm.

Yes, he also brought success to the firm and vindicated his convinction of leading the firm to new heights – most notably, with the sale of his family stake to a Japanese firm for approx $5bn. He may have retained his position as CEO of the firm, but I suspect that after various issues related to the US drugs regulator and also their huge losses, he would’ve had no choice but to walk.

In one way, this seems to complete the story. With the sale of their stake, Malvinder hung in there and still talked of Ranbaxy as an Indian firm. With his exit, Ranbaxy can move on.

So, has Malvinder shown us the future of family owned businesses? Please post your comments.

Is a Congress Party win good for global commerce?

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Now that we know that the Congress have won the general election with a comfortable margin, which allows them to be that little bit more confident in their agenda setting, the question that I’ve been most asked is whether a Congress victory is good for the international business.

If what a business leader most wants is stability, then I believe that the people have delivered a much more stable government than the last, which was run on the whim of the Communist Comrades of West Bengal.

We must also take some comfort in the fact that senior Ministers like Chidambaram and Kamal Nath have made statements that recognise that the reforms process must move forward – whether this is to do with labour reform or increasing FDI in various industry sectors. The latter is what I’d like to examine further.

Its proven that in sectors such as IT, biotech or telecom – which are ‘open’ to foreign equity and participation, we’ve seen huge growth – some commentators estimate around 40% growth year on year. Whereas in ‘closed’ sectors such as retail, legal services or accountancy, you’ve only seen single digit growth. The argument being that the more ‘open’ India becomes, the greater the chances of her becoming more competitive and successful.

Chidambaram has commented on the inadequate level of life insurance cover in India as being “totally pathetic”, and also often stated the need to bring reforms to the banking sector, does this mean that we should expect the reforms required to ensure that the Indian consumer gets more value for their money?

Well, without the Communists holding a gun to their heads, it seems that the Congress Party has a range of options to pursue to take the globalisation agenda forward. The international community expects it, and to be honest, I’m not sure the Indian Government will have any plausible excuses to defer critical economic reforms or on delivering on Doha much longer.

Does the BJP have what it takes to steal a victory?

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So, what’s the latest thinking on the Indian elections:

1. Voter turnout has been poor in Mumbai, pundits say this is down to two things: (a) generally, middle class and urban populations don’t vote and (b) abstaining due to the Mumbai terrorist attack of last year.

2. Lower caste commuity in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati’s back-yard – where she was expected to clean up, it seems are not as enthusiastic as she is about broadbasing the Bahujan Samaj Party by providing upper caste people berths in the party. As a result, voter turnout has been low in some parts of UP.

3. Given Mayawati’s slowdown, people are talking up the possibility of the BJP picking up seats whereas this seemed improbable previously.

4. There’s been a continuous campaign to create a split in the NDA with suggestions that partners like Nitish Kumar in Bihar are going to gravitate towards the third front. In all honesty, he hasn’t made it easy for himself either by being vague in a key TV interview.

5. It seems likely that the BJP will emerge as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha. Whether this guarantees them the numbers required to form a government is opaque at the moment. It all comes down to the level of horsetrading they want to get down to.