Meet
India's brand master. Sriram'Sri' Srinivasan, 44, is the man behind
Louis Phillippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, and Peter England, all of which
he launched for Madura Garments. He then quit the firm with his crack team
of 7 marketing men to start Indus League. And, finally, in December, 1999,
he even bid for the very brands he grew. He didn't get them, though; the
A.V. Birla Group pipped the pioneer to the post. But that hasn't dampened
Sri's spirits. Recently, he took his 3 new brands-Indigo Nation, Scullers,
and Ironwood-national, and wants to make them bigger than the brands he
built earlier. Sri has a passion for squash, but also tees off regularly,
with a handicap of 24. Most of all, Sri and his colleagues certainly have
a lot of fun. ''It is important to have fun while you work,'' says Sri.
And, of course, cream the competition...
When
Maya Shankar Verma, 61, the former chairman of the State Bank of
India (SBI), heard about his new job as the chairman of the revamped
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), it came as a bolt over the
line. ''I'm still finding out myself,'' says Maya, a career banker, who
has clocked 44 years at the SBI. But this M.Phil from Patna University-who
loves to read about religion-claims that he got into banking by accident.
In 1956, too young to join the civil services, on a lark, Maya appeared
for the SBI Probationary Assistants' Exam. There's been no looking back
since then. But why did the government choose him for this sensitive post?
Probably because of his unimpeachable integrity-something that every
former colleague of his will vouch for. Says Maya: ''The regulator should
have a clear direction for growth, but a rose often needs to be pruned for
its growth.'' Well, the telecom sector's new gardener certainly means
business. Hopefully, it's not all maya!
He's
not just a businessman, but a millionaire, philanthropist, and a Netizen
as well. The story of Vinod Gupta, 52, the bespectacled
cigar-smoking CEO of the database specialist, Infousa Inc., is a classic
rags-to-riches tale. He started with $100, but, today, his company's
revenues go up to $230 million. Vinod is also politically savvy. One of
the few to fund Larry Pressler's campaign, Vinod-an IIT-ian from Kharagpur-knows
the importance of lobbying. ''In the US, it is important to have lobbies,
and, for that, you need to spend money. It's time the Government of India
takes proactive steps, and cultivates lobbies in the Senate,'' he says,
puffing on a $200 cigar. Expensive tastes haven't diffused his
philanthropy: recently, Vinod funded a B-school on the IIT-Kharagpur
campus, and a charitable foundation for women in Rampur. Have money, will
give...
Here's
another guy who loves the good times. Of course, only while at play.
Otherwise, Bharat Padmanabhan, 33, the newly-appointed head of
Standard Chartered Bank's institutional banking division, is a marathon
workaholic, routinely putting in 16 hours a day. When he's playing, his
colleagues can't keep up with him. ''Jazz, samba, and a good Mohito can
make a deadly combination,'' says Bharat, who started off with the Credit
Lyonnais Group, and moved on to Standard Chartered to start their
institution investment business. But the strictly 6-day-a-week man still
finds time for an old passion: para-sailing. Like the Mohito, that can get
you high too...
This man trips on junk. No, not the
kind you're thinking of. Akhilesh Rai, 53, the new Resident
Director in India of the TI Group, is a junk-rummager, who loves rifling
through decrepit backyards and dusty antique-shops, looking for a piece of
junk that can be converted into exotic furniture-a divan or a settee: ''I
enjoy this hobby. You see patterns and designs in what others would call
junk.'' He spent a large part of his career with Hindustan Aeronautics as
a general manager, and his former colleagues still remember the exquisite
landscapes he would create on the shopfloor. Materials management, no one
ever said!
Meet
India's brand master. Sriram'Sri' Srinivasan, 44, is the man behind
Louis Phillippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, and Peter England, all of which
he launched for Madura Garments. He then quit the firm with his crack team
of 7 marketing men to start Indus League. And, finally, in December, 1999,
he even bid for the very brands he grew. He didn't get them, though; the
A.V. Birla Group pipped the pioneer to the post. But that hasn't dampened
Sri's spirits. Recently, he took his 3 new brands-Indigo Nation, Scullers,
and Ironwood-national, and wants to make them bigger than the brands he
built earlier. Sri has a passion for squash, but also tees off regularly,
with a handicap of 24. Most of all, Sri and his colleagues certainly have
a lot of fun. ''It is important to have fun while you work,'' says Sri.
And, of course, cream the competition...
When
Maya Shankar Verma, 61, the former chairman of the State Bank of
India (SBI), heard about his new job as the chairman of the revamped
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), it came as a bolt over the
line. ''I'm still finding out myself,'' says Maya, a career banker, who
has clocked 44 years at the SBI. But this M.Phil from Patna University-who
loves to read about religion-claims that he got into banking by accident.
In 1956, too young to join the civil services, on a lark, Maya appeared
for the SBI Probationary Assistants' Exam. There's been no looking back
since then. But why did the government choose him for this sensitive post?
Probably because of his unimpeachable integrity-something that every
former colleague of his will vouch for. Says Maya: ''The regulator should
have a clear direction for growth, but a rose often needs to be pruned for
its growth.'' Well, the telecom sector's new gardener certainly means
business. Hopefully, it's not all maya!
He's
not just a businessman, but a millionaire, philanthropist, and a Netizen
as well. The story of Vinod Gupta, 52, the bespectacled
cigar-smoking CEO of the database specialist, Infousa Inc., is a classic
rags-to-riches tale. He started with $100, but, today, his company's
revenues go up to $230 million. Vinod is also politically savvy. One of
the few to fund Larry Pressler's campaign, Vinod-an IIT-ian from Kharagpur-knows
the importance of lobbying. ''In the US, it is important to have lobbies,
and, for that, you need to spend money. It's time the Government of India
takes proactive steps, and cultivates lobbies in the Senate,'' he says,
puffing on a $200 cigar. Expensive tastes haven't diffused his
philanthropy: recently, Vinod funded a B-school on the IIT-Kharagpur
campus, and a charitable foundation for women in Rampur. Have money, will
give...
Here's
another guy who loves the good times. Of course, only while at play.
Otherwise, Bharat Padmanabhan, 33, the newly-appointed head of
Standard Chartered Bank's institutional banking division, is a marathon
workaholic, routinely putting in 16 hours a day. When he's playing, his
colleagues can't keep up with him. ''Jazz, samba, and a good Mohito can
make a deadly combination,'' says Bharat, who started off with the Credit
Lyonnais Group, and moved on to Standard Chartered to start their
institution investment business. But the strictly 6-day-a-week man still
finds time for an old passion: para-sailing. Like the Mohito, that can get
you high too...