The company was set up by Ms Sarkar's husband, Gautam, along with his friends, Mr Arindam Sengupta and Mr Soumitra Maitra. In fact, the name of the company, GAS, is an acronym of their first names. GAS is the exclusive Indian licensee to Richard Branson's V2 Music, Charly Records, Horizon West and Malligator Records. Its popular international releases are Tom Jones' Reload, Michael Hutchence's The Solo Album and Touch & Go.

Of course, like many others before it, GAS Music has realised that enormous potential exists in the Indian music genre and that the market is difficult to ignore. "Our first `local release' is Dev Anand's forthcoming film, Master. Honestly, landing this film was a windfall. We have also signed on Baba Sehgal and newcomer Jinder Jinda," Ms Sarkar informs us.

Interestingly, hers is the only company that functions on the premise of awarding 100 per cent royalty to its artistes. It does not pay the singer anything to cut an album. "This move requires a company to have an enormous amount of goodwill in the market. All those volumes you don't sell are returned to you by the dealers. And artists like to work for a decided fee rather than royalty. So this is a major proof of the trust we command," she says.

Ms Ratna Sarkar was born in Calcutta and lived there all her life before moving to Mumbai last year. "I have been a banker right until my present assignment. I joined the Bank of America as a clerk 14 years ago. When I left I was manager, operations. Meanwhile, I married Gautam, who has a vast amount of experience in the music industry and had set up Atlantic Music in Calcutta. His friend, Arindam, now runs Talentduniya.com, and Soumitra Maitra has been with Magnasound. Between them, they have 35 years' experience in the field of music. I relocated to Mumbai because they were setting up GAS Music and asked me to handle the finances," says Ms Sarkar.

The rest of us may wonder about there being room for one more music company, but Ms Sarkar has no such doubts. "It's a Rs 1,500 crore market, of which 30 per cent is gobbled up by piracy. And there are so many sounds as yet untapped. We have explored very little in India," she says. "This is why GAS Music makes an attempt to combine well-known and fresh talent. We have decided to promote 10 artistes who have sung for Talentduniya.com. Each of them gets one song in the album, and this gives them much more exposure than they would get on a website," Ms Sarkar says.

"But like I say, there is no bible to follow in this industry. There are no laws, you can never expressly state that one kind of music will work and another kind won't. You just have to keep your eyes and ears open, remain aware of existing trends, and rely on gut feeling," she explains.

Ms Sarkar needs no prodding to say that the music industry is dominated by men. Yet, no rancour or disappointment laces her tone. "It's probably because not many women have ventured into this field. I daresay I'm the first woman MD of a music company. But that also means I have to work to prove myself," Ms Sarkar says. So this MD does what most others would not dream of doing: She sits in when the inlay cards are being printed, she attends recordings, and accompanies the team on video shoots for the albums. Gaining hands on experience is the best way of learning, she thinks.

And does she get her due on home turf, at GAS Music? Ms Sarkar pauses awhile, making one wonder whether she could do with more credit. But she is merely looking for words to destroy one's doubts. "I cannot tell you how supportive the rest of the team has been. I am so new to the field. And Gautam, Arindam, Soumitra... each of them helps me whenever I need to know something. None of them ever makes me feel that there is something I cannot handle," she says in all earnestness. GAS Music seems to have laid a strong foundation for its success.