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 Nothing
succeeds like success. The hoary dictum shines true in the demeanour
of Sunil Bharti Mittal, 49, the man from Ludhiana whose
meteoric rise through India Inc. coincides with the country's
economic resurgence. Having built Bharti Airtel, India's most
valuable wireless company, and an increasingly diversified group,
Mittal has moved into a more statesman-like mode. As the new CII
president, his priorities would be to not only champion the cause
of Indian business, but also encourage sustainable development
and more inclusive growth, Mittal said in a TV interview. That
impressive statement takes cue from Prime Minister's exhortation
to Indian industry on May 24 that it must push for greater equity
and economic justice. But Mittal's agenda is a tall order. Can
India Inc. stand up to the challenge of forging a more equitable
and politically acceptable growth? Billionaire Mittal has a whole
year to find out.
 Role
Reversal
The
stormy petrel is at it again. Chairman of Trinamool Congress Mamata
Banerjee, 52, has been at the forefront of Krishi Jami Bachao
Committee's (Save farmland Committee) agitations at Singur, Nandigram
and elsewhere. After forcing the government to go on the back
foot over the land acquisition issue, Banerjee is now trying to
dabble in responsible political leadership. She was recently present
at the all-party meeting called to restore peace and normalcy
at Nandigram. One-and-a-half hours into the meeting, Banerjee
staged a walkout over the state government refusal to brand the
Nandigram bloodbath as 'genocide' in the draft resolution. She,
however, has promised to be present at any such meeting again
if the West Bengal government "shows serious intentions of
solving the problem". Otherwise, there's nothing Mamatadi
likes more than a good fight.
Acting the Part
 Not
many gave Nirvik Singh half a chance when he took over
from the late Ravi Gupta at the helm of Trikaya Grey in 1997.
Doomsayers then had a field day saying that this ex-HTA and Lipton
man would only expedite the downfall of the agency after the departure
of its creative hot-shot, Alok Nanda. They couldn't have been
more wrong. Singh, eventually named 'Agency Head of the Year'
at MEDIA magazine's prestigious Asia Pacific Awards, is now President,
South East Asia, Grey Global Group. Donning yet another role,
Singh, 43, has now played a cameo in Pradeep Sarkar's next directorial
venture Laaga Chunari Mein Daag starring Rani Mukherjee and Abhishek
Bachchan. "I played myself in the movie; an obnoxious CEO of an
advertising agency. It was fun!" quips Singh. Busman's role, did
you say?
 Fly
in His Whisky
Days
after snapping up Scottish whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for $1.18
billion (Rs 4,838 crore), Vijay Mallya, Chairman, UB Group,
is faced with an old fera (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) violation
case. Recently, the Delhi High Court dismissed Mallya's plea to
stop criminal proceedings against him for not responding to Enforcement
Directorate (ED) summons. The case was filed over payment of $1
million by United Breweries to a foreign firm for promoting the
Kingfisher brand without the RBI permission. The ED claims to
have served summons on Mallya four times in 1999, but he, it says,
refused to make an appearance before it. Mallya refutes the charge.
While his lawyers sort out the matter, the 51-year-old Mallya
is believed to be plotting new moves to take his group into the
next growth trajectory. Nothing, it seems, can keep the king of
good times down.
Good Innings
 After
14 years in India, Scott Bayman will be handing over the
reins of General Electric in India to Tejpreet Singh Chopra. Bayman,
who recently turned 60 and is retiring, had become a regular on
the Delhi business, social as well as Golf circuit. He has mixed
feelings about heading home to Chicago. "I have lived in Delhi
longer than any city since leaving home to attend college." Bayman,
however, is looking forward to going back to the US to spend time
with his three children and four grandchildren. He hopes to reduce
his golf handicap to single digits as well. And it isn't as if
he is leaving India for good, "I have joined the board of Crompton
Greaves and expect to join a few more boards in India, and plan
to be in India four to five times every year."
 SPower
Play
He
may be in the Forbes list of tycoons, but Anil Ambani,
48, has failed to impress Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Mayawati.
The newly-elected CM looks all set to pull the plug on Ambani's
ambitious SEZ project in the state, besides 'reviewing' his proposed
7,400-MW Dadri power project in the state, too. The SEZ project,
spread over 2,500 acres, was approved by the previous Chief Minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav. With Mayawati in the saddle in Lucknow, Ambani,
a Yadav confidant, seems to have been caught in the crossfire.
UP's ostensible reason for recommending scrapping of the SEZ project
is that only contiguous land could be allotted for SEZs, while
Ambani's project is divided by a stretch of road. "The Centre
has amended rules this year that now allow SEZs with non-contiguous
areas as well," says a hopeful Ambani group official.
-Contributed by Venkatesha Babu,
Kapil Bajaj, Deepti Khanna Bose, Kushan Mitra,
Amit Mukherjee And Ritwik Mukherjee
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