A Grand Slam By An Ace
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
— Peter Drucker
Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL), a technology subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) recently raked in Rs 1,04,327 crores from investors, namely Facebook, Vista Equity Partners, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG and L Catterton. Facebook’s investment in Jio alone was to the tune of Rs 43,574 crore.
The RIL’s digital technology platform pulled off this feat amidst a worldwide slowdown driven by the Covid-19 pandemic – evoking awe across the corporate landscape. How did Jio Platforms do it? Was it the sheer glitter of the brand equity of a telecom network that purports to have changed the way the nation consumes data? Or was it the lure of a slice of the world’s second largest internet market through an established digital technology platform that brought in these huge funds?
Our cover story in this issue is a deep dive into the ‘Jio Effect’, the blurring of the lines between telecom, content and social platforms and the overall impact the phenomenon has on India’s business and economic landscape. In the near future, high-speed data at affordable price points will impact virtually all aspects of our lives from education, healthcare, banking and entertainment to tourism. Our surmise is that the massive global investments pouring into telecom and data platforms will ensure that. The customer will continue to be the king, at least when it comes to high-speed data and consumer services brought to the fingertip through it.
In other segments of the magazine, Anand Agarwal, Group CEO, Sterlite Technologies Limited, talks of the economy, leadership and the need to speed up development of the digital infrastructure in India, in an exclusive interview. Chris Hirst, Global CEO of the French Havas Creative, which is among the world’s largest marketing and communications agencies, speaks his mind on the ideal role of the captain in leading global operations. Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO, Uday Kotak, now president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, has the ‘Last Word’ in this edition of BW Businessworld, as he shares his opinion on lessons learnt from Covid-19 and more. Also read excerpts of this exclusive interview on our online platform, www.businessworld.in. This BW Businessworld property offers you other engaging articles and video content too.
This issue also has an in-depth report on the beleaguered commercial vehicles manufacturers, for whom the pandemic served as a double whammy after sales plummeted over a year-and-a-half. We bring you a feature on sustainability, which is no longer just a fancy word, but a state of the mind and a reality in the post Covid-19 world. Of course, we also have all our regular columns that you look forward to. I do hope you enjoy reading this issue, just as much as we did writing it.
Happy Reading!
