This was going to be special new year's eve any way at Mittal's Kensington Palace Gardens home in London. But it just turned some more special. Less than six months after acquiring Arcelor, L.N. Mittal, 56, has made it evident that, while the Arcelor-Mittal Steel merger may have been one of equals, it is he who is the boss. Instead of next year as planned, Mittal has already taken over as Arcelor-Mittal's CEO from Roland Junck, even as he retains his position as President of the Board. His son, Aditya, who is said to have mooted the merger to his father, is already the CFO, and daughter Vanisha is a board member too. With father, the richest Indian in the world, and son, who has just become the father of a baby girl, in control of the two most important positions in Arcelor-Mittal, there's no uncertainty anymore on who calls the shots at the steel behemoth.

Alt, Control, Shift

Until recently he was the portal keeper, now he will be its customer. Neville Taraporewalla has quit Yahoo India as its Country Head and General Manager and moved to Havas Group-owned Connecturf, which owns India's top digital marketing companies, Mediaturf and Knowledgeturf. Taraporewalla had a good run at Yahoo, launching Yahoo cricket, wallpapers and even the Yahoo messenger emoticons. The 42-year-old, however, is excited about his new role. "Digital marketing companies like Connecturf are in the forefront of creating opportunities for clients to creatively use new media platforms such as the internet and mobile phone," he says. With over 10 of his 20 working years spent in digital media, Taraporewalla can claim to be a digital media veteran. In some sense, his job hasn't changed. It will still be to turn clicks into cash, except that collecting it will be his clients, not Yahoo.

Clearing Out

Nine months ago when reliance retail tapped Rajeev Karwal to head its proposed consumer durables retail business, the news made headlines. However, his sudden departure-he has put in his papers, but will stay on till early December-has created less buzz. But why is the 43-year-old durables industry veteran calling it a day at a group that has the biggest retail plans of all? "The immediate objective is to operate out of Delhi," is all that Karwal would say, choosing to cite "personal reasons" for his decision. The move has surprised some in the industry. Compared to all the other retail heads that Reliance has hired (Gunender Kapur from HLL, Raghu Pillai from RPG and K. L. Muralidhara from AmEx), Karwal seemed to better fit Reliance's "roll up your sleeves and just do it" culture. Karwal, however, needn't fear unemployment. If not another employer, he's got his blog (http://rajeevkarwal.blogspot.com) to keep him busy.

Soothsayer With a Tool

Back in 1985 (and many years thereafter), Vivek Ranadive was a 'real-time' evangelist. That was when his us-based software products company, TIBCO, began making software to help companies manage their businesses real time. Circa 2006, the 49-year-old Ranadive thinks businesses need to move one step ahead. "Companies need to go beyond real-time business to get ahead of competition. They must be able to predict the customers' needs to create opportunity from the changing business environment," says the Palo Alto (California)-based entrepreneur. "Predictive business is the next big thing in the software industry," declares the man whose company is worth $2 billion (Rs 9,000 crore) on Nasdaq. India is slated to play an important role in Ranadive's plans. TIBCO, which has an R&D centre in Pune, plans to invest a billion dollars over the next four years. Predictable, did you say?

More Time for Golf?

That may not be how things turn out eventually, but if recent reports are to be believed, Cargill India's Managing Director Hardeep Singh is set to head a tea plantation company that will take on and manage all of Tata Tea's plantations. "I am an employee of Cargill and cannot comment on such speculations," is all that Singh said when BT contacted him. But Ranjit Barthakur, a partner at Globally Managed Services (one of the equity investors in the company, which hasn't been named yet) has said that the company will be headed by Singh. The 52-year-old Singh, who should start on the job sometime soon, is as good a man as any when it comes to agri-based industry. He has spent more than two decades in the industry, including a stint at Rallis India, where he was a director. However, this will be Singh's first foray into the troubled Indian tea plantation business. So, if not golf, he will at least get to go on nice long walks. Not the clincher, but a perk just the same.

Not Problems, Opportunities

He was on a high-reopening Dunlop's Ambattur plant ahead of schedule and the Sahagunj plant on time. Then came the double blow-temporary suspension of work at Ambattur following disputes over electricity bills and a diktat from Sebi on making mandatory open offers for Dunlop and Falcon Tyres within 45 days. But Pawan Kumar Ruia, 47, Chairman of the Ruia Group, which bought the businesses from Manu Chhabria's Jumbo World Holdings, is unperturbed. "Power bill disputes will be sorted out in a day or two and the SEBI order is a blessing in disguise," says the Dunlop Chairman, who is consulting legal eagles, but seems no longer averse to making an open offer if no penalty is imposed. Says Ruia: "I can buy these shares at attractive prices now and consolidate shareholding." Currently, trading is suspended for Dunlop. But a turnaround will mean its stock improves. The chartered-accountant-turned-entrepreneur sure knows his numbers.

-Contributed by Aman Malik, Deepti Khanna Bose, Krishna Gopalan, Pallavi Srivastava and Ritwik Mukherjee