Pradhan: Taking his fledging start-up forward

Infosys has earned a formidable reputation for itself as a school for crack managers. Now, it seems, it is also incubating entrepreneurs. Basab Pradhan, 40, who quit as Infosys' Global Sales & Marketing Head in July 2005, is leveraging his 11 years of experience as the company's point man for analysts and customers to take Gridstone Research, the fledgling start-up he founded along with five other ex-Infoscians, forward. This Fremont, California-based company (earlier known as Perputo), recently emerged from stealth mode to announce it had received an undisclosed amount in financing from Charles River Ventures, a venture capital company and Maverick Capital, a hedge fund with over $10 billion (Rs 45,000 crore) in assets under management. Gridstone's USP: it is probably the world's first 'productised' equity research organisation.

Pradhan, who interacted closely with investment bankers during his stint at Infosys, expects to provide a range of product-based data research and analysis services to these same people. "The development of analyst reports and statements (based on which investments decisions are made) is a three-stage process-data assembly, data analysis and data synthesis. We want to focus on the first two stages and provide proprietary tools to enable the final synthesis of data on US-listed companies," says Pradhan. Gridstone, which has 25 employees at its support centre in Mumbai, plans to ramp up that figure 10-fold by April 2007. It will use its funding to support its expansion activities and is targeting top hedge funds and other market players as potential customers. "We aren't a BPO company that undertakes back office processing work for analyst firms in the West. We are pioneering a whole new business model, leveraging the offshore concept by hiring MBAs and chartered accountants to undertake our research work for a fifth of what it costs in the US," says Pradhan.

-Rahul Sachitanand

NUMBERS OF NOTE

Rs 1,00,809 crore: The value of software exported by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) units during 2005-06, compared to Rs 74,019 crore in the previous year, a rise of 36.19 per cent; Karnataka leads with exports of Rs 37,000 crore

350: The number of families that arrive in Mumbai on an average every day, in search of better living conditions

1.75 lakh: The number of engineers who joined the Indian IT club in 2005

370: The number of Indian companies in the 5,200 (from 70 countries) that participated in the Hannover Fair in Germany

62%: The proportion of US consumers who gripe about service if they suspect the call centre agent is overseas-double the dissatisfaction rate for calls to agents they think are in the US, according to a study by Opinion Research Corp.

Rs 720 crore: Estimated worth of the mobile music industry by the end of this financial year, according to Cellular Operators Association of India

357,000: The number of Indians who visited Dubai in 2005

1.42 million: The number of people of Indian origin in Britain

Rs 100 crore: The amount Indian Oil is losing every day due to under-recoveries in petrol and diesel. Under-recovery happens when the selling price of the fuel, which includes various duties and levies, is lower than the cost price

$202 billion (Rs 9,09,000 crore): US trade deficit with China

$592 million (Rs 2,664 crore): US-based internet search giant Google's Q1 profit in 2006

£80-160 (Rs 6,400-12,800): The price of a seat for the London gigs in US pop queen Madonna's forthcoming Confessions On A Dancefloor tour. The booking fee is an additional £13 (Rs 1,040)

NOTED

COMING UP: Fashion magnate Giorgio Armani's Italian couture line in India. Reliance's retail wing is in talks with Armani's fashion house, though the precise fit and design of the partnership hasn't been finalised as yet. But Fransico Tombilini, Armani's commercial director, says the first Giorgio Armani store will be up and running in the next 18 months.

ANNOUNCED: By DLF Universal and Indiabulls Financial Services, a 50:50 joint venture called Kenneth Builders & Developers, to develop residential and commercial properties across India. The JV won a DDA auction for a 14.3 hectare site in Delhi. Its bid: Rs 450 crore.

ELECTED: Parthi Bhatol as Chairman of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation. He succeeds ousted old warhorse Verghese Kurien.

SOUGHT: By Hutchison Essar permission from the Department of Telecommunications to merge BPL Mobile Communications, which it acquired earlier this year for $1.15 billion (Rs 5,060 crore), with itself. BPL Mobile operates GSM services in Mumbai.

CURBED: By the Reserve Bank of India, investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in initial public offerings (IPOs) of real estate firms; they will be allowed only if the projects meet foreign direct investment norms.

INSURED: By the Life Insurance Corporation of India, for Lafarge, a scheme to cover masons. Under the scheme, Lafarge will provide a premium of Rs 100 per mason; the central government will provide another Rs 100. The mason's family will receive Rs 20,000 in case of normal death within a year.

SPLIT: The UB Ltd share, from a face value of Rs 10 to Re 1. This is expected to increase liquidity and lead to greater retail investment in the scrip. The promoters, Vijay Mallya and Scottish & Newcastle, hold a 75 per cent stake in the company.

CORPORATE SALVATION

Iskcon kitchen: Feeds 25,000 kids daily

This is where corporate salvation intersects with good governance to provide sustainable development. The Iskcon Food Relief Foundation has been providing 25,000 children at Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools with healthy meals every day since 2003. "The daily meal has led to better attendance at our schools," says MCD's Primary Education Director Indira Yadav.

Iskcon's state of the art kitchen on Mathura Road can roll out 10,000 puris in one hour and boil 250 kg of rice at one go. Costs run high: Rs 20 lakh per month. The Delhi government picks up half this tab; the rest comes from corporate donations. Says Dhananjay Krishna Das, Co-Director of the foundation: "Greater involvement of corporates will definitely help improve conditions." Adds Anil Gupta, CMD at KEI Industries: "By chipping in, corporate houses can held build the future of the next generation." Sponsors include Petronet LNG, SAIL, Morgan Ventures, Goyal MG Gases, KEI Industries and Jindal Polyfilms. Adds Meera Goyal, CMD of Morgan Ventures and Chairperson of the foundation's Steering Committee: "It's time individuals and companies realised their social responsibility and came forward to help these kids." The foundation is in the process of setting up two more such kitchens in Noida and Ghaziabad to serve government schools there.

-Pallavi Srivastava