It's the trickle-down he's now after. Finally, Ashutosh
Khanna, 31, the Calcutta-based associate vice-president of Trikaya Grey (1997-98
billings: Rs 170 crore), is busy preparing a presentation on the advantages that Calcutta
actually offers over the other metros as an investment destination--including an
audio-visual, wherein business barons, bureaucrats, and even politicians will speak
joyfully about their City. Joining hands on the project with the ad agency are
Enterprise-Nexus, Haldia Petrochemicals, and several other real estate companies, with the
IMRB agreeing to provide the market research and the data. Says Ashutosh: "The idea
is to sell Calcutta to big business." And, in the process, prop up the sagging
bottomline of the agency which, in recent times, has lost accounts such as Shaw Wallace,
Exide, and Park Hotel. Can Calcutta sell? Counters Ashutosh: "Try guessing the city
where Kellogg's sells the highest--and the second-highest" "Calcutta, and
Guwahati. Surprised, aren't you?" Now, that's something even Jyoti Babu would,
probably, be shocked by. Oh Calcutta!
It's a different kind of M&A. Planned not in a boardroom, but in a
B-school. Where the badminton-playing Aaditya Mittal, 22, the son of
Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, 48, the CEO of the $5.73-billion global steel business, and Megha
Patodia, 21, the daughter of Mahendra Kumar Patodia, 47, the managing director of
the Rs 153-crore GTN Textiles, met--and fell for each other. Formally engaged on May 29,
1998, at the Mittals' Hampstead home, they will get married on December 11, 1998, in the
Mittals' ancestral home in Calcutta. While Aaditya--who looks after the group's financing
for M&A after a six-month stint with CS First Boston's M&A Group--is a masters in
corporate finance and strategy from Wharton (Class of '96), Megha is a graduate in finance
and management (Class of '97) from the same B-school. Clearly, a match made in
management's heaven
He has always emerged with flying colours.
First, Rakesh Gangwal, 44, piloted the take-off of the $8.50-billion US
Airways, which he joined in February, 1996, after quitting Air France. Fittingly, on May
20, 1998, the Arlington-based airline named him its president and CEO. An alumnus of IIT,
Kanpur, and Wharton, Rakesh still nurtures a soft corner for his homeland. "US Air
has the most extensive route network in the east of the US, where a large number of people
of Indian origin live. Since we are expanding globally, there will be a number of
opportunities for travellers from India to link up with our system," he says. Of
course, that isn't why they made him CEO, is it?
In 1972, a psychology student at
Cincinnati U attended a workshop on TM for fun. A quarter of a century later, Lane
Wagger, 48, teaches TM at companies all over the world. Claims Lane, whose
clients include the Rs 1,161-crore Hero Honda and the Rs 700-crore SRF: "TM is a key
success factor for today's busy manager. It gives him the ability to stay calm even during
periods of extreme stress." One person who doesn't think TM is transcendental
She is definitely the cooler half of
Arvind Nair, 41, the CEO of the Rs 107-crore Amtrex Appliances. But even that is only half
the story. One fine day, Mimi Nair, 40, then a research scholar at IIM-A,
decided that life was more than three children, two dogs--and a husband. And launched
Kekasi, her own line of ethnic women's wear. Thirteen months later, so popular has it
become that almost a dozen departmental stores in Mumbai stock Mimi's wares.
"Building a name for yourself is tough, but satisfying. I got a lot of support from
Arvind," claims Mimi. Behind every successful woman, we know.
It's the trickle-down he's now after. Finally, Ashutosh
Khanna, 31, the Calcutta-based associate vice-president of Trikaya Grey (1997-98
billings: Rs 170 crore), is busy preparing a presentation on the advantages that Calcutta
actually offers over the other metros as an investment destination--including an
audio-visual, wherein business barons, bureaucrats, and even politicians will speak
joyfully about their City. Joining hands on the project with the ad agency are
Enterprise-Nexus, Haldia Petrochemicals, and several other real estate companies, with the
IMRB agreeing to provide the market research and the data. Says Ashutosh: "The idea
is to sell Calcutta to big business." And, in the process, prop up the sagging
bottomline of the agency which, in recent times, has lost accounts such as Shaw Wallace,
Exide, and Park Hotel. Can Calcutta sell? Counters Ashutosh: "Try guessing the city
where Kellogg's sells the highest--and the second-highest" "Calcutta, and
Guwahati. Surprised, aren't you?" Now, that's something even Jyoti Babu would,
probably, be shocked by. Oh Calcutta! 
It's a different kind of M&A. Planned not in a boardroom, but in a
B-school. Where the badminton-playing Aaditya Mittal, 22, the son of
Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, 48, the CEO of the $5.73-billion global steel business, and Megha
Patodia, 21, the daughter of Mahendra Kumar Patodia, 47, the managing director of
the Rs 153-crore GTN Textiles, met--and fell for each other. Formally engaged on May 29,
1998, at the Mittals' Hampstead home, they will get married on December 11, 1998, in the
Mittals' ancestral home in Calcutta. While Aaditya--who looks after the group's financing
for M&A after a six-month stint with CS First Boston's M&A Group--is a masters in
corporate finance and strategy from Wharton (Class of '96), Megha is a graduate in finance
and management (Class of '97) from the same B-school. Clearly, a match made in
management's heaven 
He has always emerged with flying colours.
First, Rakesh Gangwal, 44, piloted the take-off of the $8.50-billion US
Airways, which he joined in February, 1996, after quitting Air France. Fittingly, on May
20, 1998, the Arlington-based airline named him its president and CEO. An alumnus of IIT,
Kanpur, and Wharton, Rakesh still nurtures a soft corner for his homeland. "US Air
has the most extensive route network in the east of the US, where a large number of people
of Indian origin live. Since we are expanding globally, there will be a number of
opportunities for travellers from India to link up with our system," he says. Of
course, that isn't why they made him CEO, is it? 
In 1972, a psychology student at
Cincinnati U attended a workshop on TM for fun. A quarter of a century later, Lane
Wagger, 48, teaches TM at companies all over the world. Claims Lane, whose
clients include the Rs 1,161-crore Hero Honda and the Rs 700-crore SRF: "TM is a key
success factor for today's busy manager. It gives him the ability to stay calm even during
periods of extreme stress." One person who doesn't think TM is transcendental 
She is definitely the cooler half of
Arvind Nair, 41, the CEO of the Rs 107-crore Amtrex Appliances. But even that is only half
the story. One fine day, Mimi Nair, 40, then a research scholar at IIM-A,
decided that life was more than three children, two dogs--and a husband. And launched
Kekasi, her own line of ethnic women's wear. Thirteen months later, so popular has it
become that almost a dozen departmental stores in Mumbai stock Mimi's wares.
"Building a name for yourself is tough, but satisfying. I got a lot of support from
Arvind," claims Mimi. Behind every successful woman, we know.