What: Jignesh Shah, Chairman & Managing Director, Financial Technologies (read: Multi-Commodities Exchange) has gifted shares worth Rs 6.5 crore (or 0.13 per cent of the paid-up capital) to three company directors from his personal holdings

Uniqueness: It is the first time that a promoter has gifted his shares to his employees. But it is not the first time that a promoter has gifted his shares. The most recent one would be Vasanji Mamania gifting 15.16 lakh shares (6.06 per cent stake) of Adlabs to Manmohan Shetty before selling out his stake in Adlabs. Similarly, promoters of Infosys and Nicholas Piramal have also gifted their shares

Why: "It is a reflection of my friendship, love and affection with the three who stood by me to make my impossible dream a possibility"

Praise: "I feel touched and honoured with this personal gesture and would like to keep the shares in my portfolio," says Hariharan Vaidyalingam, Director & CTO, Financial Technologies, who was gifted 10,000 shares of the company

-Mahesh Nayak

Profile of a Jingoist

Who: Narayana Gowda, Convener, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a fringe outfit demanding greater representation in industry (30 per cent of all jobs) in Karnataka

His Reasoning: Bangalore has become a city of immigrants and the locals have been pushed to the fringes. "Our demands are fair, considering the incentives the state has doled out to industry," says Gowda. (If you are missing the point, so are we.)

His Plan of Action: Keep up the protests to demand implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi Committee report, which first mooted reservation of jobs for Kannadigas. "Massive" protest rally planned in Bangalore in late October

State's Reaction: IT Secretary Shankar Linge Gowda called the protests "a law and order problem"

Industry's Reaction: "Merit-based hiring won't change," says one executive.

-Rahul Sachitanand

Saatchi Sets Up India Shop

M&C Saatchi's Walker: India it is

M&C Saatchi, the advertising agency launched by the most admired and much disgraced Saatchi brothers, Maurice and Charles, has set up shop in India. Continuing with their old practice of growing by buying out agencies, the duo has acquired Dhar & Hoon, the Delhi-based creative shop. "India, being one of the fastest growing markets in the world, was on our radar for quite some time," says Kim Walker, President and CEO, m&c Saatchi Asia. He expects the Indian operation to soon become one of the biggest in the continent. Thanks to the deal, M&C Saatchi gets a clutch of top accounts such as British Airways, Dabur Foods, Sony and Punj Lloyd. M&C's bigger catch, however, is Kamal Oberoi, the former JWT President. Designated as Chairman & Managing Director of M&C Saatchi Communications India, Oberoi vows to pursue the founders' policy of "being the most sought after, and not the biggest, agency". "Expect some of the best creative ideas to flow from the new set-up soon," declare Walker and Oberoi.

-Archna Shukla

800's New Buyers
They include teachers and gardeners.

Changing mindsets: Try talking him off the hookah

It's about the age-old thing of keeping up with the Joneses, and Maruti Udyog's Managing Director Jagdish Khattar thinks he can pry open India's vast bottom of the consumer market using it. Ergo, the numero uno car maker has been going after the low end of blue- and white-collar market. A year ago, Maruti launched a scheme aimed at just school teachers. The result has been astounding, says Khattar. Some 10,000 teachers have bought cars (mostly the 800) under the scheme. Emboldened, the company launched a similar scheme in July this year, targeting employees of the railways and public sector enterprises such as NTPC and sail. A gardener, a railway mechanic, an engine driver and a senior division clerk are some of the buyers so far. Says Khattar: "People have a mindset that they can't afford a car. I want to change that."

According to his calculations, anybody earning up to Rs 18,000 a month is a potential car buyer. "The EMI of a seven-year loan for a Maruti 800 works out to just Rs 2,500," he points out. In fact, some of the customers he's sold to under the schemes earn even less, between Rs 5,000 and Rs 13,000 a month. Apart from new cars, Maruti is pushing refurbished cars under its True Value umbrella. Says Khattar: "When these teachers and railway employees start driving around in their cars, their peers will be persuaded to believe that a car is within reach for them as well." He needn't worry about competition. Nobody makes cars cheaper than Maruti.

- -Swati Prasad

P-WATCH
A bird's eye view of what's hot and what's not on the government's policy radar.

INCENTIVISING EXPORTS

All export incentives are being unified into one omnibus scheme. The rationale: ensuring that incentives are not interpreted as subsidies, which are actionable under the WTO rules. Already, the WTO is examining whether the DEPB (duty entitlement passbook) scheme is actually an export subsidy in disguise. There is also a need to plug loopholes in existing schemes and generate more revenues. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has formed a committee to look into the issue. It has the delicate job of steering the new scheme past WTO norms without eating into the competitiveness of Indian exports.

LIFELINE FOR BANKS

There's some good news for the banking sector. The reserve bank of India has allowed banks to treat their investment fluctuation reserve (IFR) as Tier-I capital. This means a bank's investments in government securities will be considered a part of equity and reserves. This will shore up the capital base of banks and help them meet the stiffer capital adequacy norms-the existing ratio is 9 per cent-because of higher credit and other perception risks as prescribed under Basel II norms by 2006. The new notification will particularly benefit Allahabad Bank and Dena Bank, which find their routes to the capital markets blocked by the fact that the government's stakes in them are hovering around the 51 per cent-mark; so any further dilution of stake will rob them of their public sector status. A case of a stitch in time saving two!

THE TAXMAN COMETH

The government is now eyeing a slice of the Rs 11,800-crore ad pie. a draft circular issued by the CBEC (Central Board of Excise and Customs) says the entire amount paid by advertising agencies to media companies for booking space in the print and audio visual medias will come under the 10 per cent service tax net. The existing practice is to levy the service tax only on the 15 per cent commission paid by media companies to advertising agencies. A final decision will be taken on the matter by only later this year.

-Ashish Gupta

Jobs ahoy! Can you spot them?

CRUISING ALONG

If a cruise around the world is on your wish list, here's some good news for you. A steering committee jointly chaired by Minister of Shipping T.R. Baalu and Minister of Tourism Renuka Chaudhury is preparing a draft Cruise Tourism Policy to facilitate foreign direct investment in the sector and sort out issues relating to immigration, customs clearance, taxation and infrastructure. The draft regulations will be placed before the Cabinet early next year.

A WHIFF OF FREEDOM

The government is, at last, doing something to provide a greater degree of autonomy for public sector units. The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has prepared draft guidelines under which they will no longer need government clearance each time they want to invest their surplus cash. However, public enterprises will still be barred from investing in the overnight call-money market. The new norms have been sent to various nodal ministries for their comments and are expected to come into force early next year.

-Ashish Gupta