ARUN JAIN: Grappling with odds

Ever since the Orbitech merger of last year, things have been going wrong for Arun Jain. A month after the Chairman and Managing Director of Polaris Software Labs effected the mega merger, he was detained in Indonesia by a less-than-gentlemanly customer, Bank Artha Griha. Then, his ambitious BPO venture not just proved to be a non-starter, but its high-profile recruits quit after a bitter, public fight. Now, it seems the merger itself may not yield the benefits the 43-year-old Jain expected. While the first combined revenues of the two companies are up handsomely, provisions and write-offs have burnt a hole in the bottomline, which is less than what Polaris reported independently the year before. No doubt all it services companies are facing a squeeze, but in the case of Polaris the merger meant less management focus on marketing and profits. "The software services market itself is becoming very complex and it is not practical any more to use a straight line method of forecasting," said Jain at an analyst meet. Nobody said mergers were easy.

OSAMU SUZUKI: Going it alone

Driving Solo

Those expecting a grand Suzuki-General Motors-Fiat alliance in India may have to wait a bit. Suzuki Motor Corp.'s Chairman and CEO Osamu Suzuki, 73, has clarified that Maruti will continue to be Suzuki's baby and that General Motors, which owns a 20 per cent stake each in Suzuki and Fiat, will have no say in India. But, then, you know how chary the Japanese can be.

N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY: What's be his next job?

Plotting Moves

At the Infosys AGM on June 14, shareholders will vote on a proposal that allows N.R. Narayana Murthy to retire. Infosys wouldn't say why the proposal-it upturns a clause that barred Murthy from retiring if he owned more than 5 per cent in Infosys stock-is being introduced. But with his name being floated for various jobs, including at one time the Presidency of India and the Ambassadorship to the US, it's obvious that decks are being cleared for NRN to play a bigger role in public life. Farsighted, as always.

RANA KAPOOR: Lots in a name

Round Two

Rana Kapoor, 45, is a keen golfer and knows the importance of the first shot. Three months after he acquired a licence to set up a bank, he's made some headway. Apparently, he has found a name for his bank. Curiously, it's likely to be called yes. Why? For uniqueness and to reflect a positive attitude, we learn. While its name might be innovative, the bank-in-the-pipeline already has had its share of starting trouble. Harkirat Singh-Kapoor's other partner, besides brother-in-law Ashok Kapoor-has opted out. But Kapoor, whose employer Rabo Bank will pick up a significant stake in yes, says the show must go on. "Play it long, play it right and split the fairway," says the man. We'll be watching.

B.V.R. Subbu: Making his point

Angry Young Man

Maybe because he earned his spurs selling trucks, B.V.R. Subbu, 49, is a man who'd gladly roll up his sleeves to explain the engineering under a car's bonnet-or to pick a fight to prove his point. This time around, it's for the latter. Hyundai Motor India's young (especially by Korean standards) President is mulling legal action against two unnamed insurance companies, which he claims are coaxing Santro owners to not to go to the company's authorised service stations for repairs. Subbu says that compromises customer safety. No doubt, but there's also the fact that it is servicing that fetches car-makers their real money.

DIPAK C. JAIN: United's new guru

Flying High

There's something about Indians that united Airlines, the world's second-largest carrier, seems to love. In 1999, Rono Dutta was named the airlines's President, and now it's the turn of Dipak C. Jain, Dean of Kellogg School of Managemen at the Northwestern University, to come aboard as a Director. Jain has been with Kellogg since 1987 and became its dean in 2001. "Jain is a leading-edge thinker who will provide different and valuable perspectives to our board deliberations," says United's Chairman, Glenn Tilton, in a statement. Born and brought up in the small town of Tezpur in Assam, Jain is a leading authority on marketing research and has consulted for top-notch companies including IBM. United, which-like other American airlines-has run into a financial crisis, could do with Jain's help to stage a comeback.

-contributed by Nitya Varadarajan, Venkatesha Babu, Suveen K. Sinha, Debojyoti Chatterjee and T.R. Vivek