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Journalism of Courage
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Adarsh Gupta is adamant to improve on the performance of Liberty. This is when the brand seems to be doing absolutely well. After bagging the big Wal-Mart contract, his focus has shifted to the international market to provide a boost to the company’s performance. The move to strengthen Liberty as a contract-manufacturing unit for global brands perhaps is the consequence of major shoe players closing several manufacturing plants abroad. Gupta is now hoping to bag orders from other global store chains as well.
To step up supply, Liberty is setting up a shoe-manufacturing unit in Karnataka. Already a major player across North India this would certainly add to their strong presence in South India as well. And this will save them a lot of cost on logistics too. Gupta’s team knows they are still at liberty to keep some focus on the still under-developed market that is India.
Is there a chink?
With the sad demise of O.P. Jindal, the buzz has been that his Rs 10,000 crore empire would work on a model where each of his four sons would be entirely responsible for the companies under their control. But the mystery of how this is going to work at Jindal Strips remains the minor unsolved issue. The position of this one company is very crucial as this is one company that has a cross holding in all the seven important companies that the group holds. Though at present Ratan Jindal is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director, his other brothers for obvious reasons are also on the board. So even though all may seem calm on the surface but somewhere a minor flaw exists out there. But given the fact that in most cases, management control is clearly delineated, minor anamolies in any company could become worrisome. Since the entire sector is on fire at the moment, nobody probably wants any attention to be diverted from the business of growth. That should guarantee, that clarity will follow.
Working for a cause
Chinese Premier Jiabao’s insistence that Indian corporates must make investments in his country was not something pharma tycoon Y.K. Hamied waited for. The tycoon had already decided to go in for tie-ups with Chinese and even Japanese firms. The Chinese tie-up is especially important since China is known for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient manufacturing and Cipla at present is concentrating on its API exports.
Partnerships with the Far East have exactly been high on the agenda since he has over the years built his strongest ties with the US. In fact recently, the tycoon even partnered with former US President Bill Clinton’s ‘William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation’ to provide them with pediatric AIDS medicines at half their normal prices an initiative that’s Hamied’s hallmark. The East is probably going to be more aggressive in commerce.
Kotak’s raw estate
Uday Kotak is all set to penetrate a market he has never tried before: the real estate market. Kotak’s real estate fund seems set to create and grow the market. Talks of roping in US-based investors are also doing the rounds. Uday wants to rise to real estate power by developing residential properties and retail space and of course acquiring, selling and leasing of the properties along with this. Following the HDFC housing fund, Kotak too will create a trustee company with Rs 1,000 crore, which will as usual depend on an asset management company, for its investments functions. Think up a better way and a better time for tapping the retail estate market, could you
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