Newsmakers: Ratan Tata, Lalit Modi, Rahul Yadav and more

Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons. (Photo: Shekhar Ghosh)

'E' seems to be the new obsession of Ratan Tata, who is shopping by the dozen. After his investment spree in a host of entrepreneurial e-businesses, ranging from Snapdeal, Paytm, Urban Ladder, CarDekho and Ola Cabs, Tata's 12th bet is in an electric vehicle start-up. The 76-year-old former chairman of the salt to software Tata Group has just picked up stake in Ampere, a Coimbatore-based start-up founded by a woman entrepreneur, Hemalatha Annamalai, which makes electric cycles, scooters and trolleys as well as special purpose vehicles for the differently-abled.

Lalit Modi, former chairman, Indian Premier League

lalit Modi is an equal opportunity disruptor. Cutting across party lines, he has thrown his darts everywhere. His targets include President Pranab Mukherjee, the Congress leadership, former UPA ministers and businessman Vivek Nagpal. He has taken to Twitter to make sensational disclosures. In one of his tweets, he has also talked about starting fightcorruption.org. Knowing him, we must get ready for more masala.

Rahul Yadav, former CEO, Housing.com

Rahul Yadav has been sacked by the board of Housing.com. The reasons cited for removing Yadav, the only dropout among the 12 co-founders from IIT Bombay who started the real estate portal in June 2012, largely relate to his brash behaviour towards the investors, who he had said was 'intellectually incapable'. The 26-year-old did apologise but it seems that the damage had already been done. The news of Yadav's exit follows speculations that the investors will likely sell the company and were reportedly in talks with online classified company Quikr.

Mukesh Ambani/Y.C. Deveshwar CMD, RIL/ Chairman, ITC Ltd. (Photo: Shekhar Ghosh)

India's richest man Mukesh Ambani's annual salary of Rs 15 crore has remained unchanged in the last seven years, but it is 205 times above that of the median employee remuneration at Reliance Industries (RIL). However, this ratio stands much higher at 439 times in the case of Y.C. Deveshwar, the Chairman of ITC. The shareholders-approved compensation of Ambani is much higher at Rs 38.86 crore. RIL says that the fact he draws lower than what is approved for him reflects on Ambani's desire to set a personal example for salary moderation at the managerial levels. Deveshwar's remuneration rose by 24 per cent during 2014/15. His gross remuneration stood at over Rs15 crore, but his net pay was much lower at Rs 7.3 crore.