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HDFC Bank's Aditya Puri, Microsoft's Satya Nadella and Adobe's Shantanu Narayen have made it to the list of World's 30 Best CEOs by American financial magazine Barron's. While Nadella has appeared in this list for the first time, Puri and Narayen were featured in last's year's ranking, too. According to Barron's, Nadella was chosen for transforming Microsoft from a potential cloud victim into a cloud landlord, and now, thanks to him, investors treat Microsoft as a growth stock. The magazine lauded Narayen for understanding the stakes in a changing world and taking decisions that helped the company maintain its dominance in the industry. Puri has been credited by Barron's for transforming HDFC Bank from a start-up into one of the world's highest-quality banks. The magazine praised his effort in "remaking India's second-largest private sector bank into a digital spot for anything money-related". The list also featured GM's Mary Barra and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, among others.
Cold War
Sanjiv Mehta-led HUL, the parent company of Kwality Wall's, has filed a case against Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), the marketer of brand Amul, alleging that a recent ad by the latter explaining the difference between frozen desserts and ice cream is misleading. GCMMF's Managing Director, R.S. Sodhi, defended the ad and said, "We have done no wrong. Our ad doesn't name any specific brand or company. Our intention is to make consumers aware about milk-based ice cream and vegetable-oil-based frozen desserts sold under the impression of ice-cream." According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, ice creams ought to be made out of milk fat, and those made out of vegetable fat need to be labelled as frozen dessert. While Amul uses milk fat to make ice cream, Kwality Wall's uses vegetable fat. This is not the first time the two FMCG companies are at loggerheads over the issue. HUL had made the same complaint to the Advertising Standards Council of India last year.
Man of Steel
Sajjan Jindal, CMD of JSW Group, recently expressed his intent to acquire distressed steel companies. "JSW is in a position to consolidate this industry. And in case, anywhere in the world, if steel industry has to remain consolidated, there cannot be too many players," he said at an event in Maharashtra. Jindal also said that the company has been looking to acquire Bhushan Steel and Monnet Ispat for some time now. According to him, though the worst is still not over for the steel sector, it is slowly recovering. The industrialist also talked about JSW Group's plan to invest about `7,000 crore to develop ports in India and abroad over the next three years.
Behind Bars
Yogendra Vasupal, Co-founder and CEO of home stay aggregator Stayzilla, has been arrested by the Chennai police after Jigsaw Advertising and Solutions alleged that he had cheated them. According to the firm, Stayzilla allegedly defrauded them of `1.69 crore. However, according to Vasupal, who wrote a blog post pleading for help, Stayzilla had a dispute with the agency over "deficiency of services" and he had asked them to take up the matter in court. In the post he mentions that he was arrested in "mysterious circumstances" and his business partner Sachit Singhi was also threatened by the agency. Further, he claims a voodoo doll was sent to Singhi, and on it his son's photo was pasted. The start-up community has been rooting for Vasupal and demanding his release. The court has rejected his bail plea twice already.
Aiming Higher
Lei Jun, Founder and CEO of Xiaomi, recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed plans to create 20,000 jobs in the country. Lei also shared with the PM Xiaomi's journey so far in India, which is its second largest market after China. Xiaomi has already invested millions of dollars in India. It has set up two manufacturing plants in the country and is planning a third. The phone manufacturer is looking to double its investments in India. Over the next three to five years, Xiaomi plans to invest $500 million in the country.
