TISCO | wealthymatters

Ratan Tata

December 29, 2012 Leave a comment

Yesterday,ie on 28th of December 2012, on his birthday,when he turned 75, Ratan Tata retired,succeeding on his third try.In 2002, when Tata was to retire at 65, the Tata Sons board promptly re-designated him non-executive chairman, which meant he could continue for another five years.Three years later, the board upped the retirement age of non-executive directors to 75. The message was clear: Ratan Tata was indispensable.And it was not just the board that felt that way. There were loud cries of support from shareholders. As one shareholder put it”We can’t lose our ratan (jewel).”Others asked him to stay on as chairman emeritus. Read more of this post

Filed under Entrepreneurship, Theory Tagged with ACC, Ajit Kerkar, architect Cornell University, AZB & Partners, B Muthuraman, Birlas, Bombay House, brand equity, Chrysler Sebring, Corus, Corus Steel, Darbari Seth, Empress Mills, F-16, F/A-18, Falcon 2000, Ferrari California, Ginger hotels, Gita Piramal, golf, helicopter, Hitech Drilling Services, Indian Hotels, Indigo Marina, Jaguar Land Rover, Jaguar XK120, JRD Tata, Lakme, Land Rover Freelander, Maserati, Nani Palkhivala, Nano, National Radio and Electronics (Nelco), Naval Tata, New York's Pierre Hotel, Noel Tata, Pierre Hotel in New York, Plantek, postaday, private jet, R M Lala, Radia tapes, Ratan Tata, Ratan Tata with German Shephards, Rolls Royce, Russi Mody, scuba diving, Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, Simone Tata, Sir Dorabji Trust, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Sumant Moolgaokar, swimming, Tata, Tata brand, Tata Chemicals, Tata Elxsi, Tata family, Tata Finance, Tata Group, Tata Honeywell, Tata Indica, Tata Keltron, Tata Logo, Tata Sons, Tata Steel, Tata Telecom, Telco, Tetley, Tetley Tea, TISCO, Tomco, Zia Mody

Alok Kejriwal On The Different Shades Of Money.

August 1, 2012 2 Comments

wealthymatters.com

Some interesting observations from Alok Kejriwal :

“After my first round of VC funding, I ran into my uncle at a dinner. He had read about the financing in media and cornered me. ‘So you’re rich! Why are you looking so gloomy?’ he said. ‘Huh’ I asked? ‘My Company’s the one that got funded, not me! No one got rich. The VCs got poorer and a long arduous road lies ahead of me to return the money to the VCs many times over’. He chuckled and said’ ‘What nonsense! The first rule of the funding game is to siphon out 25% of the funds and make yourself-rich. Investors can be dealt with later’. Shucks… hadn’t I heard that story before? Many of my relatives have floated public issues that were nothing short of scams and they still boast about it!

This ‘get rich, siphon out’ philosophy left so many old industrial houses bankrupt. They were never capitalized to take advantage of acquisition opportunities and punished their shareholders so harshly that they could never raise capital again. Think Mafatlal, Dalmia and many more. Even today I meet embarrassed professional managers working in ‘family’ firms who get paid salaries in ‘half white and half black’ to avoid taxes! Read more of this post

Filed under Entrepreneurship, Paper Assets Tagged with Alok Kejriwal, Bajaj, balance sheet, black money, cash war chest, Corus, Dalmia, empire, family firms, Fiat India, Hindustan Motors, Income Tax rate, Indira Gandhi emergency tax regime, investors, IPO scams, Jaguar and Land Rover, Mafatlal, massive cash reserves, Mittals, Nano, postaday, professional managers, punishing shareholders, raising money, Ruias, siphoning off money, Tata, TCS, Telco, TISCO, VC, VC funding, venture capitalist, white money

Tata Style Philanthropy

March 9, 2011 4 Comments

Here is something I found while surfing today.I found it here http://trak.in/tags/business/2007/06/26/this-is-what-lakshmi-mittal-has-to-say-about-his-competitor/ .The blogger believes the words originate from LN Mittal.In which case it would be high praise indeed for the Tatas from a competitor.Even if the note is authored by someone else it doesn’t detract from the fact that Tata Style Philanthropy is worthy of respect and well worth emulating.The picture above shows Jamshedpur.

“Most of us know Lakshmi Mittal to be the richest person in United Kingdom. We also know him as a Steel Industry Baron who took over Arcelor against all odds. However, more than money and business, he is a great human being and never fails to give credit where it is due, even if it means his own biggest rival.

Here is a note written by Lakshmi Mittal after his recent visit to TISCO: (It is long, but well worth the read)

‘I visited Jamshedpur over the weekend to see for myself an India that is fast disappearing despite all the wolf-cries of people like Narayanamurthy (mentor of Infosys) and his ilk. It is one thing to talk and quite another to do and I am delighted to tell you that Ratan Tata has kept alive the legacy of perhaps India’s finest industrialist J.N. Tata. Something that some people doubted when Ratan took over the House of the Tata’s but in hindsight, the best thing to have happened to the Tata’s is unquestionably Ratan.I was amazed to see the extent of corporate philanthropy and this is no exaggeration.For the breed that talks about corporate social responsibility and talks about the role of corporate India, a visit to Jamshedpur is a must. Go there and see the amount of money they pump into keeping the town going; see the smiling faces of workers in a region known for industrial unrest; see the standard of living in a city that is almost isolated from the mess in the rest of the country. Read more of this post