New turf, but at home

The California government instead of giving him a break asked him to pay tax on a worldwide basis, even though 70 per cent of his work was being done in India. In the meantime, Murthy’s BPO services firm Progeon has begun a knowledge services business for global investment banks, like the Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, where they would conduct credit analysis, industry and company analysis etc at lower costs. Though BPO services have led him to rough spots in the past, the tycoon it appears, knows that it is ultimately the way into the future!

Aiming higher

Flush with funds from her immensely successful IPO, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw declared, much to the dismay of her competitors like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, that her insulin products would soon be ready to hit the Indian markets. Shaw is also launching branded dosage forms of statins within India and will use up some of her IPO kitty into an investment of Rs 650 crore into modern cancer therapy and immunosuppresants, as well as expansion of one of her fermentation and statins facilities. She is setting up another new facility for the production of monoclonal antibodies, which she wants to be the largest Asia has ever seen. This plant is expected to be ready by the second quarter of 2005. The tycoon seems racing ahead in the race for biotechnological domination for apart from all this, she has to her credit the filing of 88 patents in 2003-04 as against 28 in the previous year. Shaw’s present stay at the fifth position of biotech giants within India, is a place where she’s not willing to put up her feet for long, it appears.

Costly trip

Tycoons are clearly skirting at the edge of the law too often. Just a few weeks ago, Delhi mega rice exporter Channa had been housed at Tihar for customs evasion. Despite that scare, Anil Nanda, who incidentally is an Honorary Consul, got arrested on landing from a trip to London for not paying duties on a diamond-studded watch. Nanda has been busy spending his time on running Goetze, ever since he quit after a family quarrel from a parent company, Escorts. He made investment plans of Rs 200 crore for technological development and his real estate venture has been making acquisitions in Jaipur, Delhi and Bangalore. So with things looking rather good, heading for the other side of the law comes as a shocker for India’s tycoon club.

dilipcherian@hotmail.com