When you are the head of an important regulatory agency, people tend to hang on to everything you say. And G.N. Bajpai, Chairman of SEBI, has a lot to say. In the 30 months as the chief of stockmarket watchdog, Bajpai, 62, has delivered more than 100 speeches on various occasions. For the benefit of those who missed the more important ones, Global Business Press has brought a book comprising 16 of Bajpai's speeches. Launching the book at the start of this month was no less than Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram himself. While CEO-authors may be a rarity, Bajpai is no stranger to the world of publishing. Previously, as the head of state insurer LIC, Bajpai penned an inspirational How To Become a Super Successful Insurance Salesman and Start Winning. Should we expect a page-turning memoir of his days at SEBI? "That will have to wait till my retirement (end of February 2005)," declares the man. That's just as well. Most bureaucrats get interesting only after they have retired.

Shutterbug CEO

How many tech CEOs you know are mathematicians by education, avid gardeners, and photographers to boot, all at once? If you said just one, then you are talking about Agendra Kumar, Country Manager, Veritas Software, who last fortnight put 33 of his favourite photos of heritage sites and places of scenic beauty on display at an exhibition called "Symphony of Silence" in Delhi. Says the 43-year-old who hails from Uttar Pradesh: "I want to prove to the corporate world that despite our heavy schedules, we can find time to indulge our hobbies." The number of techies interested in working for Veritas may have just shot up.

To God, His Dues

One of the regulars at the Shirdi Sai Baba temple near Chennai en route to Mamallapuram is K.V. Ramani, CEO of the city-based FutureSoft. Until recently, that was because he built the temple out of his own money. Now, though, it would probably be because he simply wants to thank God for a windfall-hard earned, just the same-that's come his way. In a span of less than 16 weeks, Ramani sold his shares in two companies-Hughes Software, which he co-founded, and FutureSoft-to hardware manufacturing giant Flextronics. It's not yet public how much Ramani made in the two deals, but it's obviously significant enough for him to gift Rs 100 crore worth of Hughes shares to a trust he also manages. Moral of the story?

Rising Son

He's just 35 but prefers to spend his after-office hours watching art house films and reading books on philosophy. That's possibly one reason why Karan Paul, and not either of his sisters, Priya and Priti, got anointed recently as the Chairman of the Kolkata-headquartered Apeejay group, which has interests in shipping and hospitality, among others. Make no mistake, though. The Brown University-educated Paul, who succeeds his mother Shirin, is no weed-smoking philosopher. He's a businessman in a tearing hurry. "My aim is to make Apeejay the largest privately-owned group in the country in the next five years," says the Page 3 regular. It seems Paul has hit the ground running. When BT caught him on his cellphone, he was in London and about to board a flight.

"Bajai" In Trouble

There's a mini-revolt brewing on the roads of Jakarta, and the man responsible for it-unwittingly, for sure-is our very own Rahul Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Auto. No, the 66-year-old Bajaj hasn't turned a neo-colonialist. It's just that the three-wheelers his company made and sold in Jakarta are at the centre of a battle between rickshaw operators and the city administration. The latter has banned Bajaj three-wheelers, called Bajai locally, because they have raised pollution levels in the city to an alarming level. Therefore, the city, where some 15,000 Bajais ply, wants to replace them with Indonesian-made Kancil, a four-wheeler. Not surprisingly, Bajai owners have risen in revolt, and recently blocked a busy road in Jakarta in protest. Meanwhile, Bajaj is test marketing its CNG three-wheelers all over Indonesia and waiting for the government's approval to sell. Will Bajaj prevail? Watch this space.

-Contributed by Roshni Jayakar, Alokesh Bhattacharyya, Nitya Varadarajan, Arnab Mitra and Abir Pal