India's Best Chieftains
This refers to your Special Issue (India's Best CEOs, January 1, 2017). The BT-PwC study is, indeed, a painstaking labour of love and dedication. It has thrown up some new best corporate chieftains, who have managed to take their enterprises to glorious heights in spite of global glitches like the Chinese dragon fires ebbing out and the country's uncertain business environment plus other factors like technology disruptions, drive towards digital space, etc. These CEOs have once again proved their mettle during tough times. Stiff competition in almost all sectors, push-pull factors of e-commerce on one side and brick and mortar stores on the other side, coping with the recent demon of demonetisation, have all been taken in their stride. The brief listing with the portraits of the Top 100 CEOs and the Top 40 CEOs in BFSI sector is a good section for classroom discussions with the students of B-schools.
J.S. Broca, New Delhi
Fountains of Black Money
This refers to your exclusive story on demonetisation (Turbulence, Dec. 18). It has poignantly portrayed the deprivation of the hard-earned money of the gullible people at large. The commercialised educational institutions, money-spinning hospitals and unaccounted transport firms are largely among the innards of the untouched businesses of the politicians and their cohorts and are the copious fountains of black money. The lists of bank credit defaulters and money launders are yet to be revealed. The Centre has put the cart before the lame horse and it is unable to command the situation for compliance. The scanty response of the policymakers is full of problems galore. Cashless economy is wishful thinking, like a paperless office, being contradicted by the essentiality of soft copies and hard copies. The Congress has turned cynical without concrete suggestions like the pot calling the kettle black, and most of the monetary issues are its own mismanagement effects.
B. Rajasekaran, Bangalore