Business Today, People

People

The Drop-Outs

VENU SRINIVASAN:
Things of his own

VENUGOPAL DHOOT: Miffed but defiant

One's been educated at purdue University, another has turned a small sugar business into a sprawling consumer durables business, and the third has grown from being a telecom equipment manufacturer to India's cellular czar. But, then, handling the government (or trying to buy any of its enterprises) is a different ball game. Which is why Venu Srinivasan, Venugopal Dhoot, and Sunil Mittal (in that order) have dropped one after another out of the race for Scooters India, Indian Airlines, and the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, respectively. Sometime back, the corporate star from south, Srinivasan, had toyed with the idea of picking up a stake in the embattled Scooters India, which makes the Vikram brand of three-wheelers. But last fortnight, he announced that his company TVS-Suzuki would make no such bid. Instead, the man wants to focus on developing motorcycles on his own.

Dhoot's is a different story. Like rival bidders, the Hindujas, the Dhoots were asked to quit the race. While in the case of the London-based brothers it was the Bofors shadow that did them in, Dhoot's nemesis came in the form of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which accused the durables major of manipulating share prices of its flagship, Videocon International. A defiant Dhoot, however, said that what really got his goat was the inordinate delay in finalising the details for Indian Airlines' disinvestment.

Unlike our third drop-out, Sunil Mittal of Bharti Telecom, Dhoot says he is very much among the suitors for VSNL. But just why did India's most aggressive telecom player chicken out of the prized fight for the state-owned TELCO? If you've read the previous pages of this issue, you probably know why. But if you are one of those-like most people-who start reading a magazine from the back, here's the answer: Mittal has bagged the fourth licences for cellular services in six circles, and snapped up the B.K. Modi-owned Spice Telecom, a cellular operator in Kolkata, for $90 million (Rs 423 crore). That apart, he has plans of launching his own international long distance services. His budget is already running into several thousands of crores. And, like the other two CEOs, while Mittal may be out, he certainly isn't down.

Off To A New Start

SID KHANNA: London, here I come

Consultants come and go, and people-at least in the office of this magazine-rarely bother about it. But this man is special. For one, Sid Khanna literally built Accenture's (formerly Andersen Consulting) India operations over the past 12 years. But we aren't giving him any points for that because, well, that was his job. But what we really like about this chartered accountant-turned-consultant is the way he took it upon himself to be the consulting industry's unofficial spokesman (pull a consultant joke and Sid's office would promptly call). So, now that he's headed out to Accenture's London office to be part of the financial services practice, Khanna and his gruffy complaints would be missed. But it isn't the end of India for him. He does plan to spend a week in the country handling top clients and bringing outsourcing work for the local team. Go, Sid, have fun...

Playing A Mixed Beat

ASHWIN DEO: The ideal host?

Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence, they say. But if you ever got invited to Ashwin Deo's dos at his Delhi's Vasant Vihar home, there'd be great music and the world's finest wine, cognac or champagne in your cup. For, the 36-year-old fresh-faced Deo isn't just a proficient- albeit amateur-tabla player, but also the Managing Director of Moet Hennessy India. He's been in the liquor trade for 13 years, having earlier worked with UB, UDV and Foster's. What about the tabla? He started learning it when he was nine years old, and even today hones his skills by playing it at least once a week. But just why does he think the tabla and Bacchus mix so well? ''Both are social lubricants,'' he quips. Incidentally, Hennessy-a 244-year-old brand-is the only liquor that Reliance's legendary founder Dhirubhai Ambani touches, if at all.

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