VENU SRINIVASAN: Unwavering commitment

The first time Venu Srinivasan bagged the prestigious Japanese award for quality, the Deming Prize, he said he was afraid (See Excellence Is A Moving Target, BT November 22, 1998). Because it raised customer expectations. Four years on, now that his TVS Motor Company has also won the Deming Prize (the manufacturing world's equivalent of the Nobel Prize), the quality crown should be beginning to sit easy on him. By the way, his other company, Sundaram-Clayton, which first won the Deming, has gone on to win the Japan Quality Medal. This is what Deming companies aspire for, and the medal is so exclusive that in its 32-year history, less than 15 companies (mainly Japanese) have won it. The awards, presented to the 49-year-old Srinivasan on November 12, are richly deserved. Since the mid-80s, he has been relentlessly driving his companies towards total quality. But don't expect the man, who has twice snatched TVS Motor back from the jaws of death, to get complacent. That's a word you won't find in his TQM dictionary.

Guns Ablaze

THE HINDUJAS: Bofors haunts

The Hinduja brothers are no strangers to controversies, but one that just won't die is Bofors. The 12-year-old court case relating to the purchase of field guns by the Rajiv Gandhi administration in 1986 from Swedish arms company Bofors AB has taken a new twist. Recently, a special court in Delhi ordered framing of charges against the London-based Srichand, Gopichand, and Geneva-based Prakash, besides Bofors AB. But the brothers, who are alleged to have taken money for facilitating the deal, aren't losing sleep over it. The case could drag on for 10 more years on appeal and reappeal. Yawn..

VIDYA CHHABRIA: Trouble on hand

Family Matter(s)

Barely seven months after Manu Chhabria died, his family seems headed for a split. Eldest of three daughters, Bhavika Godhwani, has reportedly filed a case in a Dubai court for the division of family assets estimated at $600 million (Rs 2,940 crore). Apparently, Godhwani is upset with her sister Komal Wazir's domination of the family business, now chaired by mother Vidya Chhabria. Second-generation jinx?

NUSLI WADIA: Planning ahead

Rising Sons

One of corporate India's most reclusive-and aristocratic-dynasties may finally be laying bare its succession plans. Last fortnight, Mumbai was rife with rumours that the Bombay Dyeing group Chairman Nusli Wadia had more or less finalised the carve up of his textiles-to-biscuits empire between his two sons. The 31-year-old Ness is supposed to get the flagship Bombay Dyeing and the real estate business, while the younger Jeh could be given the plantation, chemicals, information technology and entertainment businesses. But if you think Wadia Sr. is packing his bags to retire to the Swiss alps, you'd be mistaken. The man is just 58 and in top shape. So the division of responsibilities may just be his way of making the sons more accountable.

GAUTAM DALAL: What's next?

Forensic A/C-ting

The application was sent on the KPMG letterhead, but the four signatories were not actually employees of the accounting firm, but of partner Bharat Raut & Co. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the regulatory body to whom the application was sent, calls the four applicants-with, surprise, surnames Kapadia, Perrera, Makhijani, and Girish-but only two turn up. Finally, the ICAI turns down their application for registration saying, according to President Ashok Chandak, any use of the abbreviation KPMG would be "undesirable". That, in short, is what has happened to KPMG's bid to circumvent ICAI rules that prohibit international accounting firms from operating in India under their own names. Wait for KPMG's Chairman and CEO Gautam Dalal's next move.

RAHUL BAJAJ: The world will listen

Commonwealth Club

The man who gave rise to the notion of the "Bombay Club" now has a larger pulpit from which to air his strong opinions about trade and commerce. Recently Rahul Bajaj, the Chairman of two-wheeler giant Bajaj Auto, was appointed co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), an elite business group promoting trade and investment between the 54 commonwealth countries. Bajaj, who has been on the council's 12-member board (and the only Indian at that) since it was set up in 1997, will share the Chairmanship with Hugh Morgan, CEO of Western Mining Corporation, an Australian resources giant. The newly-minted Rajya Sabha mp Rajkumar Dhoot (part of the Videocon family) is throwing a bash in Delhi on November 25 to honour the 64-year-old Bajaj's new appointment. It'll be interesting to see what Hamara Bajaj does at the CBC. For starters, don't expect him to ride pillion.

-Contributed by R. Sridharan, Abir Pal, Roshni Jayakar, Seema Shukla & Suveen K. Sinha