In his battle against the redoubtable union Minister of Human Resources, Murli Manohar Joshi, Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies and Chairman of IIM-A, N.R. Narayana Murthy may be losing support, but not spunk. The diminutive, but defiant, Murthy has got the Institute's society to maintain status quo in fee as against the 30 per cent cut demanded of all IIMs by Joshi. Murthy, however, is loath to turn this into a Murthy-vs-Joshi battle and has been saying that "the minister is a nice person but has been misled and I am presenting my argument with facts and logic". BT endorses Murthy's stand, which is that quality (higher) education must be paid for adequately. More importantly, the government has no business meddling in the affairs of well-run institutions, never mind that it funds them. Luckily for Murthy and the IIMs, at least one part of the government-more specifically, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh-seems amenable to sorting the issue out post elections.

Lots in the Name

They didn't name him Lakshmi for nothing. Last fortnight, the Chairman of LNM Group, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, emerged right on top of Britain's heap of richest Asians, with a staggering personal fortune of £3.5 billion-that's Rs 28,350 crore. Soaring global steel prices seem to have helped the tycoon, who's cobbled together a sprawling steel empire out of ailing mills-like Romania's Sidex most recently. The 53-year-old Mittal got the Ispat Group's international business when his father carved up the business among his three sons. His first steel mill was set up in Indonesia way back in 1976. Now, of course, the sun almost never sets on his empire.

Book Closed

Forty-five years after he first walked into S.R. Batliboi & Co. as an audit trainee, Kashi Nath Memani retired end of last month from the audit firm (renamed Ernst & Young in 1989) as its Chairman and Managing Partner. Born in a village (Dhulian, Bengal), Memani went on to become the audit industry's ubiquitous voice, and the first Indian Chairman of IMF's External Audit Committee. But don't expect the 65-year-old to disappear into the sunset. Last year there was talk of him eyeing a Rajya Sabha seat-something he now rubbishes as just "rumour". At any rate, getting board seats should be a cakewalk for audit's old fox.

Time to Reconnect

Last year, he sent in a "rejuvenation plan" to the Congress party. This year, Sam Pitroda has returned to campaign for his favourite political party. For starters, the 62-year-old Chairman of London-headquartered WorldTel will make his pitches at IITs and IIMs, besides meeting some corporate honchos. On the sidelines is a plan to usher in another technology revolution like he did in 1981, when Rajiv Gandhi bought his idea of a PCO revolution in the country. Pitroda, also an amateur painter, is now pushing for smart cards at PCOs that will enable electronic payment for a variety of services. The technology, called One Wallet and for which he owns the patent, is currently in use in Japan. Given his political affiliation, Pitroda may need to wait for the Congress to return before his One Wallet gains any currency.

All That Jazz

In the end, Nasser Munjee may be remembered more for the way he exited IDFC than for what he achieved at it. And in leading the unprecedented revolt of directors against the government (over IDFC's proposed merger with SBI) the 52-year-old may actually have shot himself in the foot. For, Munjee can now forget about heading a government-owned institution ever again-at least in the NDA regime. The government's charge against Munjee: Not funding enough infrastructure projects. In his defence, some of Munjee's friends say that there aren't enough big, quality infrastructure projects to fund. Where does Munjee go from here? Hard to say, but there's no dearth of options: He's got Bombay First, a city development NGO that he helped set up; he is also the Chairman of an Aga Khan rural support programme. Then, there's always jazz, said to be his biggest passion.

Access Denied

It must be frustrating to be Siddhartha Ray. Just two days before the Managing Director of Data Access, a telecom services provider, was to debut on Dalal Street with a Rs 100-crore IPO, SEBI pulled the plug on it. The stockmarket watchdog wanted Ray to clarify on allegations of a FERA case against one of its directors and also on the Rs 84 crore it is supposed to owe BSNL. The pr managers of Ray say that both are non-issues and that the company will return with the IPO in May or so. Perhaps, but for the media executive-turned-entrepreneur this is an embarrassment he could have done without.

-Contributed by Venkatesha Babu, Abir Pal, Moinak Mitra, Ananya Roy, Roshni Jayakar and Sahad P.V.