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Most expat CEOs consider
themselves lucky if they manage to wrap up their India stint without
losing an arm and a leg (figuratively, of course). So, picking up
the pen to interpret the strange new market is not something most
of them would dare do. But Perfetti India's Chairman Stefano Pelle
loves to dare. Which is why he not just accepted the India assignment
eight years ago, but has created a Rs 600-crore confectionery major
in the country. Perhaps that's why it didn't seem too pretentious
when the 42-year-old Italian unveiled his first book, called Understanding
Emerging Markets-Building Business BRIC by Brick. "It took
me six months to write the book, but it is based on my experiences
over the last 22 years," says Pelle, whose wife is from Kerala
and a dentist to boot. Evidently, Pelle, a one-time opera singer,
conductor and pianist, enjoys writing as much as running Perfetti.
He's already begun work on his second book.
 Infrastructure
Cheerleader
Last year, Vinayak
Chatterjee, 47, chairman, Feedback Ventures, managed a small victory
when Planning Commission's approach paper to the 11th Plan (2007-2011)
put in a small mention of something he had been lobbying for a
while-an estimate of the gross capital formation in infrastructure
in India as of now. Thrilled, Chatterjee is now lobbying for bigger
things-like an entire Infrastructure Ministry. Why? To serve infrastructure
investors 'cooked' projects-his friendly term for bankable projects.
However, this mission may turn out to be tougher than he expects.
The 20-odd line ministries that could possibly be merged into
this over-arching ministry will not let go so easily. "When
will these Kumbhakarns decide to wake up?" asks an exasperated
Chatterjee, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
He's been asking that question for years now. And the government's
answer to that seems to be, well, infrastructure is a long-haul
story.
The People Guy
When mercer human resource consulting asked
its new Asia head where he would like to be located, he picked
not Hong Kong or Singapore, but Chennai. Don't be too surprised.
Rajan Srikanth, 44, is a native of the city. But more importantly,
the former Walter A. Haas School of Business (University of California)
assistant professor and consultant (he's worked with KPMG Peat
Marwick and Bain & Co, among others), who spent 22 years in
the US, hopes to as much learn as teach in Asian markets. "Mercer
offers me an opportunity to work from a CEO's agenda-to look at
leadership issues and blend them top down," he says, explaining
his move from Accenture. Srikanth, whose wife is a Bharatnatyam
dance teacher, is also in charge of Mercer's Human Capital Advisory
Services in Asia. Given Asia's talent crunch, Srikanth will have
plenty of advising to do.
 Surprise
Frontrunner
Leading the race to
become the petroleum regulator is Labanyendu Mansingh, 60, who
recently retired as Secretary, Consumer Affairs. A career bureaucrat
who worked in economic ministries ranging from trade to industry,
Mansingh, however, did not serve in the petroleum sector. The
only other contender, Sushil Tripathi, interestingly, recently
retired as Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum. So, why does the
government's recruitment panel seem to prefer Mansingh over Tripathi,
who would arguably take less time to kick off mature regulations?
The reasons aren't apparent but wags in the bureaucracy point
to one of Tripathi's key decisions during his tenure as Petroleum
Secretary, and which was to get Reliance Industries to bear the
subsidy burden in the petroleum sector. Last year, RIL forked
out close to Rs 750 crore. That Mansingh is a close family friend
of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is also no secret. Surely, the
minister could take no chances. After all, oil is slippery.
Taking the Plunge
 For
15 long years, B.V. Naidu was the first port of call for any tech
company wanting to set up shop in Bangalore or Hyderabad. And
in those years, the 42-year-old Director of Software Technology
Parks of India (STPI) watched as many of the entrepreneurs he
helped and advised went on to strike pay dirt. Finally, Naidu
has decided not to merely watch, but take the plunge into the
heady industry. He has joined SemIndia as the Managing Director
to execute its $3-billion FabCity (to make semiconductors) coming
up in Hyderabad. "I had achieved all I could at STPI,"
he says. "Although I would be lying if I didn't admit that
the lure of a private sector pay packet was also a reason,"
he adds with a grin. With the semiconductor policy far from clear
and plenty of lobbying still to be done by SemIndia, Naidu seems
like the perfect man for the job.
 The
Unlikely Geek
For someone who didn't
study at school but privately at home, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh isn't
just literate, but erudite. The 31-year-old founder and Managing
Editor of First Monday, a widely-read, peer-reviewed online international
journal about the internet, is also an open source advocate, and
is based in the Netherlands. But he makes a trip to India every
year for 10 days to conduct workshops and do research work. Ghosh
is actively involved in initiatives related to government policy
on FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) in Europe and Asia.
"We have to realise that there is a very tangible market
dynamic to the free economy of the internet, and money is not
the prime motivator of most producers of the net's free goods,"
says the Delhi boy, who can sing dhrupad and play the cello. He
is currently writing a book based on his weekly column, Electric
Dreams, on information society.
-Contributed by Pallavi Srivastava,
Shalini S. Dagar, Nitya Varadarajan, Balaji Chandramouli And Venkatesha
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