High on hydrocarbon

When AM Naik, chairman and managing director of the Rs 34,000-crore engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro effected a reorganisation of businesses within his company last year, he had two primary motives.

‘Companies have to keep changing, so do families’

After the split of DCM empire in 1990, Ajay, Vikram and Ajit Shriram have steered DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd or DSCL to make it a Rs 3,500 -crore empire with a diversified business portfolio ranging from agri-products to rural retail...

Small cars, big haul

Small cars from India are making it big in European markets where people are moving from gas guzzlers to fuel-efficient cars and taking the scrappage incentives being doled out by various European governments.

‘Supply-chain management is a big constraint in this country’

B Prasada Rao was recently named chairman & managing director of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. He has more than three decades of experience in the country’s biggest capital goods company.

A crisis of confidence

While the benchmark 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange has doubled since the lows of March, retail investors are still cashing out of the market. It is indicated by the shareholding pattern of Indian companies.

‘Cricket is the sport of choice for business people’

Airtel Champions League T20 has created a buzz around sports lovers during the festive season. From October 8, this event is being telecast in over 160 countries in 11 languages, and will go on till October 23.

Earnings rebound

Corporate results for the quarter ended September will be keenly observed for signs of economic recovery. Some of the initial results show corporate India is on a rebound as sales are picking up on the back of lower interest rates, robust liquidity and pent up consumer demand.

‘The best fundamentals are in commodity

Jim Rogers became an investing legend when he co-founded Quantum Fund with George Soros in early seventies. During the next 10 years, the portfolio gained 4,200%, while the S&P went up by less than 47% and it prompted him to retire at the age of 37.

Investing in equities

During the bull-run from 2004 to 2007, companies parked a major part of their surplus money in equities, especially in their subsidiaries. And with markets reviving, companies are finding investing in equities even more profitable now.

“We will invest heavily in high-technology areas”

Engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro is on a major expansion spree. It’s getting ready to tap into the business opportunity once India’s 60,000 mw nuclear capacity addition plan is launched.

Disclosure challenges

As the stock market rises and the general sentiment burgeons, there is a rush to collect monies from the liquidity overhang at the moment. With more than Rs 15,000 crore being raised from initial public offerings and around Rs 21,500 crore from the qualified institutional placement route, the scene is buzzing.

‘We need innovative financial products that are devoid of gambling elements’

The global financial crisis has underlined the need for responsible corporate governance. Many of the nuances are explained in R Venkata Subramani’s latest book Accounting For Investments: Equities, Futures and Options published by John Wiley and Sons.

Retail bets big on expansion

After a year-long lull, the organised retail sector is on an expansion drive. Biggies like the Future Group, Aditya Birla Retail, Reliance Retail, Trent and Spencer’s Retail are adding new stores and charting out plans to set up hypermarkets on the back of lower rentals and buoyant consumer demand.

‘When there is a gold digging rush, people who make shovels do very well’

Draper Fisher Jurvetson is a leading venture capital firm with more than $5.5 billion in capital commitments. It has funded companies like Hotmail (acquired by Microsoft), Overture (acquired by Yahoo), Skype (acquired by eBay) and Glam Media.

Deterring debt

Fewer expansion plans and lower sales growth have resulted in lower debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) for companies. An FE analysis of 724 companies shows that growth of loan funds decreased from 35.2% in 2007-08 to 33.4% during 2008-09.

‘The recent acceleration seen in GDP gives us enough reason to cheer’

With the monsoon reviving across the country, Godrej Consumer Products Limited is optimistic that it would continue to grow at the present rate of 21% or even more. In an interview to Fe’s Simran Arora, Godrej Group chairman and managing director Adi Godrej talks at length about the demand of FMCG products in rural areas and his plans about other group businesses. Excerpts:

Private security needs a policy guard

Security companies are going on an overdrive to modernise and expand. While the Rs 1,500 crore Delhi-based Security and Intelligence Services has embarked on a Rs 50-crore expansion plan, global security company Securitas has opened six training centres in Bangalore.

‘There is a lot of difference between Made in India and Made by India’

An engineer, educator and government advisor, UK-based Sushantha Kumar Bhattacharya is an authority on design and manufacturing. He founded Warwick Manufacturing Group in 1980.

Mid-caps outperform big companies

Financial results for the quarter ending June show that mid-cap companies have performed better than large caps.

‘Low margin is the biggest issue in affordable housing’

Surendra Hiranandani, founding member and managing director, Hiranandani group & Hiranandani Upscale, is not the most visible face of the Mumbai-based group of builders. His elder brother Niranjan is the spokesperson.

Betting on festival season

Consumer durable companies are cheering up before the festival season. They have drawn up fresh plans and lined up new launches to perk up sales during the upcoming festival season (September to December), which typically accounts for over 40% of their total annual sales.

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