It’s a Bajaj

Most of corporate India, completely behind the BJP coming back to power, is still scrambling and trying to figure out who among the tycoons is the closest to the new power establishment and therefore can be used to change opinion where it matters. After the initial flurry of activity created by news of the Anil Ambani meeting with Sonia Gandhi, just one day before the election results were out, the jury is still out on whether the Ambani boys are as clearly at the top of the new power elite as they have always been. The other bet of course is the venerable R.P. Goenka, who has for many years been the funding father of Gandhi-supported social causes, but today seems a little bashful. In any case, consensus has it that as far as some of these really big and connected business groups are concerned, they are unlikely to intervene on any issue that goes beyond their own personal and specific industry interest. So, what’s of interest to the rest of corporate India, of course, is to find the champions they need to become strong and credible interlocutors to push a variety of issues that need to be sorted out before policymaking heads off in the wrong direction.

One of their best bets of course is Rahul Bajaj, who has had a long and close association with the entire Gandhi family over generations. What started off as a 10 minute appointment with the Lady of 10 Janpath, recently turned out into a 40 minute discussion, where the most significant issue that concerns corporate India was among the subjects touched upon, in a strictly informal chat. Unfortunately, sources suggest Bajaj and his arguments were not able to make much headway, in convincing the Congress supremo. So corporate India still has to worry about how they’re going to ensure that the sword that hangs above them, of caste-based reservations in the private sector, are going to be tackled when they get to the promised discussion stage.

Making Magppie fly

Arun Garg, the little known tycoon, who has had amazing success with his designer stainless steel products — Magppie — believes he is now ready to take on the outside world. His Magppie products are already exported to 38 countries including Spain, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. But now he’s ready to do this under his own brand name. Ten international markets will see the introduction of his products. A new marketing office has been opened in New York, from where Garg will coordinate his activities. Meanwhile, expansion is on within the country. His destination — smaller towns. This will be achieved through the involvement of dealers, who will market his products. Presently Magppie products are sold through retail showrooms in just 21 cities. But the tycoon wants to set up exclusive franchisee stores in the five metros at least by 2006.

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He is even toying with the idea of introducing a new concept of home delivery into this sector. With it a call-centre will be set up, where complaints will be heard, and an online browsing facility will be introduced for Internet savvy consumers. This will help them browse through catalogues and book their orders online. Thus, while providing total convenience for his consumers, Garg will get for himself the chance of a 15 per cent addition in his sales by the end of the year. Well, sometimes success lies in trying out every road — locally or globally. But the real reason he is going for scale, is that he knows he has already hit a plateau domestically, given the price points he operates at. So scale is the answer to get his Magppie flying.

Dilip Cherian runs the public relations firm Perfect Relations. He is an economy watcher and a tycoon tracker. The people he writes about are not his clients. Send your insider dope to dilipcherian@now-india.net.in