Showing posts with label IIPM FACULTY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIPM FACULTY. Show all posts

Monday, October 08, 2012

THE CITI NEVER. . .

Adversity is a great teacher, and is an opportune time for some leadership lessons. US Gen. George S. Patton, who won many accolades during World War 2, was famous for his handling of adversities in warfare. During one operation in Sicily, he is said to have told one of his lieutenants that he had complete faith in him. To prove it, Patton went home and, you guessed it, slept! He used to famously quote, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they’ll surprise you with their ingenuity.”

Not letting down his board’s belief, it seems Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit’s classy ingenuity – and that of his valued predecessors – has not only surprised, but even shocked the damned pants of Citi’s investor groups. Look at their performance on the ingenuity scale – for an organisation that had enviable smashing profits of $24.5 billion in 2005, the six months ending June 2008 have been pure genius – a killing loss of $7.6 billion! With one top US institution filing for bankruptcy (Lehman Brothers), the other (Merrill Lynch) being taken over by another (Bank of America), and the IMF estimate of gross losses suffered by the industry because of the sub-prime crisis crossing a gut wrenching $1 trillion, is Citigroup – one of the worst hit institutions in the US – going to be the next disaster on the West Coast? Boasting an asset size close to $2.1 trillion as on 2008 [double that of, say, India’s GDP], if Citi falls, Patton or no Patton, nobody’s going to sleep again for many months!

Not the least Victor J. Menezes, retd. Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup, who reverted to us commenting, “I do not wish to get involved in any such media interactions concerning Citibank.” Truly speaking, the problems that Citigroup had piled up for itself were there for everybody to see; and as surprising as the analysis might be, the fact is nobody was ready to bell the billion-dollar pig and send it to the butcher’s. That Citi’s future is in grave danger can be easily viewed from the way share prices have plummeted. It’s a massacre on the bourses, with Citi’s share price falling from $55 in January 2007 to a pathetic $14 on September 17, 2008!

On September 15, 2008, Citi’s shares plunged by 15%, & on September 16, by another 7%, as news of Citi’s exposure to Lehman’s bankruptcy came to light. Lehman named Citigroup amongst its “largest unsecured creditors,” with a numbing $138 billion of Citigroup’s money tied up in unsecured Lehman bonds. Consider that Lehman’s gross outstanding debt is $613 billion dollars! So Citi is exposed to almost an unbelievable 23% of Lehman’s crash!

As B&E had analysed just a few weeks back in its cover issue Murders & Acquisitions [August 7, 2008], Vikram’s predecessor, Charles Prince, is an equal, if not better conspirator in this bloodbath. In 1998, he, as the Chief Administrative Officer [under Sandy Weill, then CEO], engineered the utterly disastrous $140 billion merger of Citibank with Travelers Group ten years back. Former Citi Chief Executive John Reed, who engineered the deal with Sandy Weill, confessed to the Financial Times in April 2008, “The specific merger transaction clearly has to be seen as a mistake,” and he was ‘unclear whether the company’s model or management deserved the greater share of the blame for its problems.’


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

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Saturday, October 06, 2012

INDIA: ORGAN DONATION

Gap Between Demand and Supply

At present, out of the 1,50,000 patients requiring kidney transplants, only 200 get kidneys by way of donations from the deceased. As per Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network (MOHAN) Foundation in Chennai, efforts by the states of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka have increased the rate of cadaveric donation from 0.08 per million in 2008 to 0.1 in 2010. In most developed nations, the cadavers conversion is around 25% to 30%. Yet, a 2007 WHO estimate reveals that 10% of all transplants involved patients from developed countries going to poor countries to buy organs.

India for that matter neither has clear laws not a central information agency for organ database, thus increasing the chances of buying and selling organs. It leaves the patients on the mercy of the hospitals for organs. Most of the time, registered patients do not get the organs, as these are bought by rich patients directly from the hospitals. What should we do?

Copy the US blatantly. Many states in US encourage organ donations by writing down the consent while granting the driver’s license itself, thus allowing a central information database of donors and receivers. A total of 28,000 transplants took place in US in 2008 alone! Obviously, they must be doing something right!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Monday, September 10, 2012

Wrong person, Wrong place?

The New CEO is a Software guy and has Prior Experience only in Enterprise Sales – A clear mismatch with the current philosophy of HP – The largest IT company in the World. Is he the right choice?

On a cold Sunday afternoon of February 2009, Leo Apotheker, who had moved into the CEO chamber at the $46 billion technology giant SAP’s Waldorf headquarters barely seven months back, shot across a sorrow-laden email to his employees. It read thus: “The pace of change was probably too rapid. My communication toward you was not always optimal. I regret that I wasn’t able to earn the support of each and every one of you...” So what forced him to wear the cloak of humility? The Board of Directors at SAP had refused to renew his contract following his underperformance. The financials had turned turbid, as SAP recorded the first fall in top & bottomlines in 7 years, which plummeted by 8% to $14.6 billion and 7% to $2.48 billion respectively in FY2009. Other matters disappointed the shareholders further, which included the withdrawl of SAP from the Sun acquisition talk (which Oracle finally bought, killing chances of SAP becoming invulnerable), the failure to get on board 10,000 customers for his expensive service software project Business By Design by 2010 (which never saw the light of the day during his tenure), his inability to get SAP’s products in-line with the changing trends in enterprise software, et al. His fate was sealed.

But just as surprised as the world was when he was offloaded by SAP’s Board even as his 75 minute-long debut CEO keynote at Orlando was being forgotten, the $98 billion tech-giant Hewlett-Packard proved yet again (after Hurd’s unceremonious exit on August 6, 2010) why it is good at making news. Apotheker had just been announced the scandal-marred HP’s new blue-eyed boy. As for the shareholders, their grief was visible as the HP stock fell by 4.32% on the first trading day following this announcement on September 30, 2010 – wiping away $4.2 billion of value. Rick Sturm, CEO, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), while speaking to B&E from Colorado, says, “Investors have indicated that they doubt Apotheker’s ability to lead HP. This choice by the HP board is likely to end up being seen as an unbelievable act of stupidity.”

Of what can be observed from Apotheker’s past, seems unsettling. In recent times, HP has been plagued by unethical issues leading to high-profile exits. With Apotheker, it appears that this corporate legacy will live on. The German is currently involved in a courtroom dust-fight, where Ellison-led Oracle is claiming more than $2 billion in damages from SAP. Oracle claims that Apotheker was at the centre of an illicit activity four years back, which saw workers at SAP’s TomorrowNow subsidiary steal copies of Oracle’s maintenance services software. HP’s honour will therefore again receive some clubbing on November 1, 2010 – officially Apotheker’s first day as HP’s CEO – when he presents himself before court to defend SAP’s case, as Massachusetts-based Charles King, President, Mindspring Research tells B&E, “Apotheker could leave HP with eggs on its face. Oracle never bothered listing Apotheker as a witness for its trial with SAP.” What a way to kickstart your tenure as HP’s CEO!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Saturday, September 08, 2012

Once a star, always a star

Back in the 70s, Neetu Kapoor nee Singh made ‘coy’ passé; the new leading lady was spunky, even brattish, yet eminently loveable. After a gap of nearly 25 years, she faced the camera for Do Dooni Char, wowing one and all with her middle-class budget-conscious housewife act. We can’t wait for more; how’s that for some khullam khulla declaration of love?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Tuesday, September 04, 2012

The old Indian rope trick... Mastered!

Better late than later, IDBI Bank has finally understood the power of numbers – or rather, of Indian masses. With their renewed focus towards retail banking, the bank seems to be re-mastering age-old strategies… and quite efficiently. B&E does a snapshot insider of what’s up! by Mona Mehta

Firstly, one has to accept IDBI was never one of the early birds. What till the late 90s was simply the metaphor for a huge building in an area called Scope Complex in New Delhi, has today metamorphosed and managed to carve a niche for itself in the Indian banking arena by surviving the cut-throat competition. Today, when all public sector banks have risen to the challenge – put forward by the private and the foreign banks – to meet the global benchmarks in terms of service quality and product innovation, IDBI Bank has emerged on its own way as a trendsetter despite not being one of the big daddies of the industry. A quick strategic review was of the order; and yes, we did it pronto!

Galloping Ahead
If one were to simply go by numbers, IDBI Bank seems certainly set for a real show. Beating even the best of the forecasts, the bank registered a mind-boggling 97.9% growth in its operating profit in the last fiscal. Net interest income of the bank too grew to `22.67 billion in 2009-10 as compared to `12.39 billion in the previous year, translating into a growth of 82.9%. IDBI Bank’s operations during the first quarter ended June, 2010 resulted in a net interest income of `8.51 billion, registering an extraordinary 172% growth over the `3.15 billion posted by the company in the same quarter of the previous financial year. Interestingly, this happened during a period when most of the Indian banking giants were still recovering from the slowdown blues.

Going deeper, while IDBI Bank’s net profit grew 46% (on year-on-year basis), fee based income increased by 53%, deposits grew 36%, advances grew 38%, aggregate assets rose 29% and the total business of the bank registered a growth of 37%. Analysts from firms like Jainam Research tell B&E how given specific fundamental performance factors, the bank’s bottomline is set for some serious growth in the coming quarters.

The Trick… The Old Indian Rope Trick
So how’d they do it? Well, it’s just by a little change in focus; or rather, going back to the focus that should have been originally there. We term it IDBI Bank’s ‘middle of the pyramid’ theory. IDBI Bank, which used to be highly focussed on the corporate sector generating 70% of its total business from the same, finally did one of their most transformational strategic focus changes to decide to give its retail business an equal importance – not only in terms of products, but marketing and investments too. The aggression comes quite clear, when B&E talked to R. M. Malla, c, IDBI Bank, “We have charted out new plans to enhance the bank’s branch network, which will help the bank expand its retail business. For the purpose, IDBI Bank plans to set up between 1,500 to 3,000 branches, 4,000 to 5,000 ATMs and 100,000 point of sale (PoS) machines with shopkeepers, in the next three years.” That translates into mammoth investments. Tactically, at ground level too, the bank has already started attempting a more consumer friendly face – and it’s not just about its advertisement. For example, to attract more retail business and achieve their goal of lowering cost of deposits, IDBI Bank has gone a step ahead of its competitors by waiving charges on many of its current account and savings account (CASA) services including account closure, ATM Interchange, demand draft cancellation et al (although industry players like Pankaj Pandey, Head – Research, ICICI Direct, while talking to B&E, warn that such a waiver of charges by IDBI Bank on the CASA account will drag down the fee based growth of the bank).


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Monday, September 03, 2012

"I AM A VERY STRONG SELF-CRITIC"

Some say he can handle numbers pretty well; others argue he’s more of a creative guy. Some say he’s a cut-throat businessman, others reiterate his only passion is work. To the media world, he’s a true recluse, refusing any and every media exposure. He rarely talks, leave alone provide insightful descriptions on his follies, mistakes and achievements. Ronnie Screwvala, UTV founder, in exclusive conversation with B&E’s Shephali Bhatt



B&E: What geared you to be in the business of media and entertainment?
Ronnie Screwvala (RS): I think it is one of the few industries where you are looking at the creative aspect and the business aspect. In Media and Entertainment, if you can find the rare combination of creativity and commerce, it is a strong formula for success, whereas in other businesses that are non-creative, you can have a strong commercial background; you do not have to be marketing clever. Here if you have that and if the combination works it is much more fun.

B&E: From the first cable TV venture in Mumbai, you have grown to sign deals with global biggies like Walt Disney, Fox Searchlight, Sony & Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment. Where do you see all this leading to?
RS: The Indian market has positioned itself as one of the most interesting markets in the media and entertainment field in the world… I think everyone thought so five years back, but now it is more so because of the rest of the world, if you look at it in terms of comparison. It’s not just that everyone would like to view India as the destination but more so that the rest of the world is actually slowing down. If you look at the west, its growth in media and entertainment has come down to zero or is absolutely flat. If you look at Japan it is an insulated market; if you look at China, it is a closed market; if you look at South –East Asia, there is no real scale level play. So it is not that India has to be one of the quarter calls, it seems to be the most critical quarter call, maybe with the sole exception of South American countries. So, for media companies in India today, it is important to look at the home market and the diasporas’ market overseas.

B&E: How strong is your industry in the diaspora market?
RS: I think we in media and entertainment industry have substantially ignored the 30-35 million diaspora market of South Asians and that is something that also needs to be looked at. We should look at the 1 billion people here and 35 million outside. The latter is a unique market because it is the second largest migrant population of the world after the Chinese; so that is large and comes with a higher propensity to spend and consume. So even if it is 1 billion versus the 35 million, it could be ten times of 35, it could represent an equivalent of 300 million just by their spending power.

B&E: Then how do you explain all those international tie-ups that you have been entering into?
RS: I believe that our tie ups with international companies are more because that is where we believe that we can work together to see how we can meet this diaspora, rather than going out and frittering our energies to build an international story. I think India in itself is a strong international story and that is where our focus lies right now. So if we have done deals with FOX and Overbrook Entertainment in the recent past, they were just deals done by our movies division. So it wasn’t really part of an overall organization thrust.


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Saturday, September 01, 2012

SETTING ‘THE’ BENCHMARK!

O. P. Bhatt took over the reins of sbi when private players were catching up. He decided to go slow and his strategy seemed to have paid off. With SBI’s profits two times that of its closest rival ICICI Bank, sbi is far ahead of its competitors by any means

B&E: SBI’s NIM (net interest margin) has improved significantly from 2.30% in June 2009 to 3.18% in June 2010. Where do you see it going forward?
O. P. Bhatt (OPB): We certainly want to increase it further, but we would be happy if we maintain it at the current levels for now. Though there is a healthy possibility of an increase in NIM in the near future, our priority is to maintain it at the current levels, which is quiet good.

B&E: Credit growth in the banking sector seems to have picked up much faster than the usual pace. So, what kind of numbers are you looking at?
OPB: We are really optimistic about the credit growth and as such are looking forward to achieve a 20-22% growth rate in the near future.

B&E: Will the demand continue to come from infrastucture and allied sectors or will we some more sectors playing a significant role in driving the demand for credit?
OPB: If you look at the big loans, the maximum demand, as of now, is coming from the infrastructure space. In fact, it willl continue to come from here in the near future as well. However, sectors, which include retail, education, auto and real estate, will too drive the demand for loans. We have seen some good credit growth flowing in from these sectors in the recent past and as such are really optimistic about the contribution they can make to the credit growth.

B&E: Going forward what is the outlook for interest rates?
OPB: We are definitely reviewing the interest rates. We have an upward bias for the interest rate in the coming quarters. The interest rates for both, deposits and loans will go up. Deposit rates have already bottomed and the era of cheaper interest rates is over.

B&E: SBI has reported an increase in NPAs (non-performing assets). Which are the sectors that are putting pressure on the bank’s balance sheet?
OPB: NPAs have increased for sure but if you look at the figure it is more in terms of percentage than the value. On a sectoral basis, the agriculture sector is the biggest contributor to our NPAs, almost 50% of the total NPAs of the bank. The other sector that’s putting pressure is the SME sector.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Friday, August 31, 2012

FOUR DIMENSIONS OF PROFIT-MAKING!

Competition today has forced organisations to overlook the importance of values, ethics, credible leadership and corporate governance. they simply hinge their hopes on luck. wrong. Dr. Jamshed Jiji Irani, Director of Tata Sons and Chairman of the Board of Governors, IIM-Lucknow, writes about those elements, which if considered first, would result in fair profits.

From the dawn of civilisation, societies and cultures have been impacted by a numerically minute group of men and women who, because of their vision and their willpower, have swayed and changed the course of history; and they have significantly impacted the lives of their fellow human beings. Such persons have not just happened, they have been trained to grasp their moment of history. They have lived by the adage – “God give me the strength to change what I can, the humility to accept what I cannot and the wisdom to differentiate between the two”.

Profit is about “Values”
The one common thread that joins all successful leaders, is that they have seized the opportunity that came their way. Some say that to be successful, you must be lucky. In my opinion, there is no luck involved in building a successful career or a happy family life. I would rather say that good luck comes as a result of “preparation” meeting “opportunity”. Another very important subject is of “values”. In some quarters, particularly amongst young executives, “values” are looked upon as old fashioned and, may be even considered as being out of sync with the demands of the current competitive scenario. But let me assure you that it is not so.

Today, society is once again recognising the merits of value-based decisions. Please be assured that society is demanding that businesses get cleaned up; and this movement is going to accelerate in the future. I would like to quote J. R. D. Tata here: “No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile, unless it serves the needs or interests of the country and its people and is achieved by fair and honest means.”

Profit is about “Ethics in Business”
What is Ethics in Business? It devolves into playing the game of business according to rules, even if your competitor does not. Some critics might argue that in the prevalent environment, this philosophy would not be acceptable, as “ethics” might result in a disadvantageous situation in the business arena. But, being “ethical” does not mean that one cannot also be “profitable”. It is most important to make profits and to generate wealth; because only then can one have the resources to do good in the community. That differentiates between ‘good’ and bad’ business practices, and decides what happens to the wealth after it has been generated. I would once again like to quote J. R. D. Tata here. He said, “Every company has a special continuing responsibility towards the people of the area in which it is located and in which its employees and their families live. In every city, town or village, large or small, there is always a need for improvement, for help, for relief, for leadership and for guidance.

I suggest that the most significant contribution that an organised industry can make is to identify itself with the lives and problems of the people of the community, to which it belongs and by applying its resource, skills and talents, to the extent that it can reasonably spare them to serve and help them.”



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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Shinzo Nakanishi, MD, Maruti Suzuki India

Maruti’s market share and stock price has taken a beating in the recent past; blame competition for it. Shinzo Nakanishi, MD, Maruti Suzuki India, explains the comeback plan of the company to B&E.

B&E: The company has capacity expansion plans for 2012. How do you plan to manage till then, as the company is selling whatever it can produce?
SN: The company was working on ways to bring that to an earlier date and I am pushing my engineers very hard to ensure that Maruti is able to start the additional 250,000 units production as soon as possible. However, as of now, I will not be able tell you by when we will be able to start our new assembly line. But till then, we will have to manage with out existing capacity, and look at options by which we can maximise our production.

B&E: What about the developments on Suzuki Motor Corporation’s alliance with Volkswagen?
SN: The talks with Volkswagen are going on at a global level but there is still no clear picture as of now. However, there is very much a possibility of an OEM (original equipment manufacturing) supply contract with Volkswagen, which will be similar to what Maruti has with Nissan. But there is no possibility of sharing a common production platform with Volkswagen. Keeping in mind the fact that the German company’s production and product development costs are very high, it could make our business model unfit for India.

B&E: What prompted you to launch a five CNG models, even before a proper infrastructure was available for usage?
SN: We had two very radically different options in front of us regarding this – either we could wait till the point when the infrastructure got ready and then launch our products or being a market leader, we act first and allow competitors to follow us. We chose the second option!


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Is legislation the only way out?

There’s a silent epidemic of workplace bullying... Is legislation the only way out?

Not all measures need to be so drastic though, as Dr. Mallary Tytel, President of Healthy Workplaces, shares, “As an employee, you can document occurrences in detail with dates, times, places, what was said or done and who was present at the time, and then work with the employer or a trusted advocate to solve the problem. One must understand that bullying is about control and power, not performance.” Research by Nathanael Fast, Assistant Professor of Management & Organisation from University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, affirms, “It was those individuals who had power and also felt incompetent who were most likely to treat others badly. It does appear that bullying could be a sign of inner weakness.” Thus he validates what many of us already suspected to be true – bullies are just insecure about themselves.

The job of senior management is to pluck out such elements from the system and ensure that the top leadership sets an example for others to follow. S.Y. Siddiqui, MEO – Administration (HR, IT & Finance) at Maruti Suzuki India, is a believer in the zero-tolerance policy, and says that a clear code of conduct needs to be set by the company. Garry Mathiason of the employment and labour law solutions firm Littler Mendelson seconds this view, stating that the best solution is to prohibit bullying as a company policy. He clarifies, “A ‘policy’ is very different from a ‘law’. View it as a yellow light highlighting conduct that the employer wishes to eliminate, as it violates employer policies, but is not yet illegal.”

It is not likely that such legislation will hit Indian shores soon, but this does serve as a reminder to companies operating here. Employers must demonstrate their commitment by equipping their employees with tools like awareness sessions, open-door policies, and speedy redressal of grievances to tackle such issues even without talk of a law. Prevention, really, is better than cure.


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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Touch me not!

From healing touch to heeling touch… Women have an incredibly wider spectrum of influence than one could have ever anticipated!!

Have you men ever walked into a shop and felt incapacitated as a negotiator, and had to deal with the brunt of a raw deal that may have burnt a hole in your pocket? Isn’t it true that our female counterparts have an edge when it comes to negotiations and bargaining? Not only that; it has been observed that men accompanied by women folk may also feel much more confident and far more secure while closing deals or simply venturing out. A recent study in New York shows that the reassurance of a woman’s touch can influence decisions made by men. It finally stands to logic why women always get their way and it won’t be a surprise if another study showed that women are in fact always aware of the fact that men feel empowered when they are around! Now, the million dollar question that remains is why are they still given the tag of the ‘weaker sex’?

Women sure have accomplished almost everything that was earlier considered a man’s forte. And in some cases they have achieved even greater feats. Be it personal chores or strategising in a corporate forum, women are omnipresent. Although, some chauvinists and uninitiated introverts donning the garb of shyness, moving further into their cocoons (read wimps) might beg to differ and still vouch for male bosses and colleagues, just so the equations remains ‘simple’. It is a known fact that men would score way lesser than women as far as emotional quotient is concerned. This largely fuels the debate that claims women are better managers, because women colleagues and bosses have greater people management skills, and empathy tops the charts on their priority lists. One might have noticed that while being served in any of the airlines where air hostesses as well as flight stewards are on duty, a passenger might get agitated if a male steward falters, but a reassuring smile from the hostess pacifies even the most irate guest.


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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

SUBHIKSHA: FAILURE

Subhiksha was a dream flight, which crash-landed as soon as it took off; B&E presents a decisive story covering a summary of its flawed strategies and the way forward. by Pawan Chabra

A former senior employee tells us, “Subhiksha’s debt-equity ratio was always wrong since the expansion began. The company pushed the accelerator simply depending on debt. Even as the company was not able to pay its existing employees properly, it still kept on hiring more till the recession started.”

Both Satyam and Subhiksha, coincidentally, have been cases of investor activism, where shareholders, sniffing something out of the ordinary, have demanded deeper investigation. This has specifically re-ignited the debate on the relevance of independent directors on the board. According to a report by KPMG titled ‘India Fraud Survey Report 2010’, almost 40% of the frauds committed in India Inc. are because of the failure on the part of line managers/departmental heads to act against deviations from established policies, and only 10% are because of inadequate oversight by the Board/Audit Committee. But they add that bribery and corruption are now considered to be an inevitable aspect of doing business in India by many Indian companies, with fudging of financial statements perceived to be the most rampant corporate fraud within India.

Practitioners like Susil Dungarwal, MD, Square Feet Management feel that though Satyam and Subhiksha may look similar, there are differences, "especially in the intentions; while Raju wanted to take the money home, Subramanian still wanted to put the money attracted by the falsified documents back into the company.” According to a report by KSA Technopak, the share of organised retail in the Indian retail industry will reach 12%; standing at $67 billion out of the total $587 billion of the total retail industry by 2015, which is expected to close with a 5% share in 2010 with the organised retail industry contributing $21 billion out of the total $435 billion of business. "But if cases like Subhiksha get repeated, the projection may be revised soon; and the biggest hit would be in the PE investments that were coming into this sector," says Prasoon Majumdar, President, Global Strategy and Investment Consulting.

That the Indian retail industry – like the airlines sector – is going through a bloodbath is no secret. Vishal Retail was another firm which almost reached a collapse point – but the company was saved by the US-based PE firm TPG Capital. Even Satyam got taken over by the IT arm of M&M Group Company Tech Mahindra, and the conglomerate has since been trying to get the IT major back on track. A saviour for Subhiksha, unfortunately, is still not in picture. Sources familiar with the matter confirm that ICICI Ventures has now even approached many strategic buyers; but so far, nothing has worked out as the prospective acquirers don't see much value in the retail chain. Even Premji is said to be suffering from the same predicament, with the investment value plummeting post the scandal and collapse.

So where to from here for Subhikhsa? Clearly, wherever it is, would be only downhill. The chances of Subhiksha being sold lock, stock, and barrel are extremely low. But a higher probability exists for a part by part sell off of Subhiksha's various business units – but there would be very less assets to speak off once all claims are settled. Depressed about that? Well, read the book...




 
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