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It's party time at Seagram's Indian operations. All major decisions have been put on hold; executives are catching up with their families or golf-practice; and an air of somnolence pervades the company's corporate office at Gurgaon. The reason? French media major Vivendi along with its Canal Plus pay-TV unit's merged with Seagram in June, 2000. Vivendi promptly put the company's liquor business on the block. Unlike most parts of the first world where Seagram has a significant presence in the entertainment business, its Indian arm's ambit is restricted to liquor. The future of Seagram in India will be a function of who manages to acquire its parent's liquor operations. If the Diageo-Pernod Ricard combine manages to, it will have to decide which brands it will sell in India: all three companies, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, and Seagram have competing offerings in most segments. In contrast, if Allied Domeq does, its limited brand portfolio could complement Seagram's. And it could also gain from Seagram's bottling facilities in India. Two things, though, are clear: nothing much is going to happen to impact the equity of Seagram's star brand Chivas. ''Chivas has its own identity that isn't quite associated with Seagram's,'' says an executive in a competing liquor transnational. And, two, it will be at least six months before the Indian operations realise the full impact of the Vivendi acquisition and the subsequent divestment. That should be more than adequate time to bring a golf handicap to scratch, or party some more. Hic! -By Jaya Basu L A
W F I R M S
The course of law firms in India is changing, and paving the way are brothers Shardul and Cyril Shroff, managing partners of Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. Under a Boston Consulting Group-recommended restructuring, India's biggest corporate legal outfit is trying to undo its perception of a family-managed partnership. A management committee of five has been set up with two non-Shroffs in it. Three new non-family partners have also been taken on board. The firm's associates are to be given clear career path, and investment in infotech, human resources, and accounting are being beefed up. Says Shardul Shroff, 45: ''The transition to a more broad-based firm will help get quality professionals who can fulfill their career aspirations and grow to become our partners, and not merely our understudies." Adds James Abraham, 35, Director, BCG India: "The Shroffs have treated the firm like a baby. But a family-dominated structure tends to create a hole in the middle." If the 80-year-old firm is changing, it's for good reason. The law business isn't what it used to be. New laws and growing complexities of the modern-day corporation are straining resources. BCG estimates that the Rs 250-300 crore industry will grow at 15 per cent a year in the near future. But government regulations cap the number of partners in a law firm to 20. Therefore, clients-who want to be serviced by senior partners-often complain of getting either quality or availability, and not both. Agrees S.H. Bhojani, 57, Deputy Managing Director of ICICI, and an AMSS client: ''Typically, clients are happy with the quality of service, but timing is an issue since most of the good law firms are stretched to the limit.'' In addition to that, the Shroffs have been having trouble retaining talent and that's getting accentuated with even accountants and investment bankers stepping on to the legal turf, at least in the areas of taxation and corporate finance. Sure, AMSS has a long roster of impressive clients, including the Tata Group, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, DSP Merrill Lynch, GE Capital, Great Eastern Shipping Company, IL&FS, and UTI among others. But 2004, will likely prove to be a watershed year. That's when transnational law firms-some of whom have as many 400 partners-will be allowed to set up shop in India. And in many ways that will be an unequal battle. Unlike in the US, Indian law firms are not allowed a percentage of any damages awarded to their clients. Instead, all they get is hourly rates. The regulatory structure in the country also prohibits lawyers from advertising. Even information-only websites are a no-no. The only publicity they are entitled to is through word-of-mouth. Of course, firms like the Shroffs' will have the option of joining hands with foreign firms. But like the Shroffs, they would probably prefer maintaining their own identities. Says Cyril Shroff, 40: "We want to be a player in the market and retain our independence." Understandably, BCG is upbeat about the restructuring and reckons that AMSS's billings could soar to Rs 100 crore from the Rs 25-30 crore today. Legal eagles or fat cats? -By Suveen K. Sinha A
U T O M O T I V E Last month, on September 14, when Mercedes Benz India Ltd (MBIL) rolled out the king among Mercedes, the S-class, priced at Rs 59 lakh, people thought the American-German car-maker was being funny. Poor sales of its high-priced E-class cars had already blown a huge hole in its bottomline. What it needed was cheaper cars (like its 1.6-litre Neon) and not the ultra-luxury S-class. Right? Wrong, says Jurgen Ziegler, MBIL's new 41-year-old CEO. In just the first three weeks of its launch, MBIL had booked 84 fully paid-up orders for the car. Says Ziegler: ''Every year we sell about 100 cars that are imported fully-built, and last year half of these were S-class cars. So, we were expecting bookings for around 50 to 60 cars. But, apparently, there is a much bigger demand.'' MBIL's Pune facility has a capacity to make 15 cars a day, and the 84-car order is less than a week's production. In any case, the company will not be producing more than 100 of these cars-which are cheaper by 15 per cent when assembled locally-because of supply-constraints. ''There's a backlog of 10,000 S-class cars worldwide, and India has to wait in the global queue,'' says Ziegler. If Mercedes has more orders than it can fulfil, it's because the S-class is considered to be the most technologically advanced car in the world. The design of the S-class has led to over 30 innovations and 340 patent applications. It has an airmatic suspension, the first of its kind in the world. It senses the load in the car and the road condition to optimise riding comfort. Besides, the car has intelligent climate control for all the four passenger. The system can sense the humidity, the angle at which the sun's rays are coming in, and adjust the climate around each individual passenger. ''In fact,'' says a proud Ziegler, ''four climate zones can be created in the car, without any physical barrier.'' Have money, will ride. -By Roop Karnani H
I G H - E N D C O S M E T I C S
It's a bare Rs 58 crore-a-year niche, but Elizabeth Arden wants a toehold in it anyway. This month, the Unilever brand announced its entry into the prestige segment of the cosmetics market. Marketed by Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL), the ea portfolio includes 5th Avenue, Splendor, Red Door, Green Tea, and Sunflower, and is priced between Rs 1,240 and Rs 2,670. Given its thin slot, the range will have limited distribution. Says Anil Chopra, 51, Head (Speciality Business), HLL: ''There are many people who travel abroad infrequently, but want top-end brands. Even those who do travel frequently will have the convenience of shopping for their brand at leisure.'' HLL is betting on the fact that growing income levels and Indian women's winning streak in beauty pageants will grow the Rs 800-crore market. It already has Lakmé-which it bought fully from the Tatas in 1998-that has products in the upper segment. While the brand Orchid may have helped broaden HLL's cosmetic portfolio-an Orchid lipstick can cost Rs 180-it hasn't raked in any big numbers. In fact, the brand is retailed at only 80 centres in mini and major metropolises. Says Chopra: ''The brand has lived up to the role we envisaged for it. That's why we have restricted distribution.'' Or is it that the size of the top-end segment is inherently limited? Revlon's seems to be a case in point. Although Revlon is seen as a value-for-money brand elsewhere, in India it is perceived as a premium line. For instance, its basic lipstick costs Rs 160. Now efforts are underway to make Revlon more affordable. It has just launched a mini lipstick priced at Rs 90, while a mini enamel costs Rs 75. That's blurring price points because a Lakmé ultra lipstick without any add-ons costs around Rs 80. Modi Revlon, however, says that the new pricing strategy is aimed at providing better quality products in convenient pack sizes at different price points. Says Meghna Modi, 26, Executive Director, Modi Revlon: ''Women tend to get bored with the colours they are using and like to try new things. So we are making it possible for them to do so without spending too much money.'' Liz, take note. -By Angana Bharali P
E R S O N A L T E C H N O L O G Y Serendipity rules on the Net. There I was, looking for a Dave Mathews Band-Phish rendition of All Along The Watchtower on the most happening mp3 search, Mamma, and I ran into something called i-drive (www.idrive.com). i-drive was where most of the mp3s I was looking for were resident. A few mouse-clicks explained why. i-drive stands for Internet/ Infinite drive. Becoming an i-drive member (it's free) entitles you to a secure place on the Net where you can store your files. That isn't a revolutionary offering; many offer the same facility. Only i-drive has no limit on storage. So far, so good. Storage, a few hours of playing around with my i-drive made it clear to me, was only the plain vanilla offering. By downloading a software called Filo (again, it's free), you can clip web-pages and store them on your i-drive. That's almost the same as bookmarking them, only better. If the content on the site changes (which happens often), the bookmark is of little use; Filo, in contrast, lets you clip the entire page including files, images, and links. By far, the best utility on i-drive is something called Sideload. A few i-drive partner sites (like zdnet and Scour) offer you the facility to move large files directly to your i-drive. That helps in two ways: it cuts download time to nothing; and it takes up no space on your precious hard-disk. There's more to it: you can make i-drive part of your desktop and use it as you would any other desktop utility (that means you can click and drag files to and from it); share files on your i-drive with the world at large or with a few friends; view the sites from where you clipped files (by using a utility called 'My Places'); and even use a playlist to play files off your i-drive. The possibilities, to resort to cliche, are infinite... -By R. Sukumar O
F F - B E A T In a previous avatar R.K. Raghavan, Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) used to find time to host quiz shows on TV. For a man used to flummoxing hapless participants with his questions, bemusement must be a strange feeling. Still, that is the lot of the dapper 59-year-old Raghavan today. Technology and the mind of the modern (white-collar) criminal are proving to be tough nuts for the old-world sleuths of the investigative agency to crack. True, the Reserve Bank of India, the Customs, and Income Tax departments had pitched in and seconded some of their employees to the bureau, but that wasn't proving to be enough. In early September, the CBI sought the help of India's software biggies in tackling cyber crime. A team of senior investigators hopped down to Bangalore and met teams from Infosys, Wipro, and other infotech hot shops. Says Raghavan. ''We told them we were novices. And we asked them to help us out.'' Raghavan's confession about the agency being an e-tyro doesn't stem from modesty: it's simply because the agency has not had the chance to hone its skills fighting hi-tech crime. Training is his new watchword. ''Over the next three-to-five years, all our officers will become computer-savvy, not just computer literate. They will be clued into what's happening.'' The word's still out, though, on whether the ''central' in CBI will become 'cyber'. -By Ashutosh Sinha
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