Essel group supremo Subhash Chandra and controversies, it seems, go hand in hand. The latest one involves his efforts to acquire a majority stake in United News of India (UNI), a news agency. Despite vociferous protests from UNI employees, Left and opposition parties, Chandra, 55, had managed to close the deal on September 27 with the support of the UNI board. Under the deal, one of his investment companies, Mediawest, was given a 60 per cent stake in the company for Rs 32 crore; even Chandra was co-opted on the UNI board. But on September 30, the Delhi High Court, in response to a petition filed by a Bhopal-based media company, Sandhya Prakshan, ordered a status quo on the deal. Both Essel and the complainant have been asked to present their cases on October 5. Will Chandra get UNI or lose it the way he lost India cricket rights? Wait and watch.

The Insider

Maybe it's the moustache that fascinates them, but we'd like to believe that Ogilvy wants Piyush Pandey on its global board because he's very very good at what he does, and that is to lead the advertising giant's India business and whip competition ever so often. Under Pandey, 51, Ogilvy India has literally swept every single national awards show it has participated in and won more international awards than any other agency in India. Besides, Pandey has been the first ever Asian to serve as President of the Cannes jury. Still, this ad industry maverick is very excited about the new honour. "It's a huge recognition to be a part of the Ogilvy worldwide board, but these are not things that you expect or can work towards; so yes, I'm very happy," he says. Full marks for modesty and honesty.

The India Connection

India first discovered Wilber Ross Jr. when he sold his international steel Group to steel czar Lakshmi Niwas Mittal. Now, the country will probably see more of him-at least, of his firm WL Ross & Co. In the first deal of its kind, WL Ross, a New York-based buyout firm, is said to be close to acquiring S.K. Birla's ailing OCM India for about Rs 170-180 crore. (An announcement was due when BT went to press.) OCM was carved out of Birla VXL some time ago to facilitate the sale, and has a fabric manufacturing plant in Amritsar. "The WL Ross team has extensive experience in global turnaround," said an executive at an India firm that is advising Ross on the deal. With more than $3.5 billion (Rs 16,100 crore) in private equity fund and plenty of distressed assets around in India, Ross may actually develop a taste for the country.

Prized Catch

She's been there, done that. In 1995, she was on the list of Canada's 'Top 40 Under 40' and just two years later was on the 'Who's Who of Canadian Women'. And now, Carol Borghesi, 49, has taken over as Bharti Airtel's Director for Customer Service Delivery. But ask her why she chose to come to India, and this veteran of 25 years, who, in her previous assignment was the Managing Director of 21st Century Cultural Experience, a division of British Telecom's 21st Century Networks, says: "The Indian telecom industry is at a stage where it can leapfrog technologically, without having to go through some of the pains that networks in the us and Europe went through." She's here for three years to start with. If Bharti's subscriber numbers surge even more, you'll know whom to blame.

Young And Ambitious

At 37, Rediffusion DY&R's newly-appointed President, Mahesh Chauhan, becomes the youngest head of a multinational advertising conglomerate in India. He was earlier at Everest Brand Solutions, where he turned the agency around, after it had literally been written off, and made some of the bigger players sit up and take note when just a little over two years ago it began its client winning spree, not to mention its award winning spree. "Rediffusion used to be the benchmark agency in the 70s and 80s and my ambition clearly is to get those days back," says Chauhan. He adds that he's aware times have changed and the industry has evolved. "What worked then will not work now and a new recipe will have to be cooked up, and that clearly and broadly is my mission," says the young man. Now you know why they gave him the job.

The Ideas Man

Sabeer Bhatia, 37, who, a decade ago, gave the world free e-mail, has now taken it upon himself to give India a Silicon Valley. 'Project Nano City' as it is called, would develop work and research in nano technology and would be developed over 5,000 acres (with another 6,000 acres to be added in the next phase) in Haryana's Panchkula district. It is to be a joint venture with the Haryana government and Nano Works Developers Private Ltd, promoted by Bhatia. He will help raise Rs 2,500 crore to begin with. After selling Hotmail to Microsoft for $400 million in 1997, Bhatia's second e-commerce venture Arzoo.com went with the dotcom bubble (it has recently been relaunched as a travel portal). So, let's hope Bhatia's nano city takes off without any hiccups.

-Contributed by Archna Shukla, Aman Malik, Amit Mukherjee and Deepti Khanna Bose