Gossip & Tales: Power Equations
Not so long ago, the global political and business leaders, especially the past US Presidents and business tycoons, who visited India had a mandatory date with Mukesh Ambani after they had met the Prime Minister and the President. From Bill and Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama and Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai to Satya Nadela, they all would reserve time to meet Ambani when in India.
When former US President Bill Clinton was in India sometime in March 2000 he wanted to meet the Reliance Group founder and then RIL chairman Dhirubhai Ambani "alone" to thank him for giving a contract to American conglomerate Bechtel to build the Reliance Jamnagar complex in Gujarat. Even when Mukesh Ambani took the reins of RIL, there has seldom been a leader who would not want to meet one of the country's most powerful men and the head of the richest family in Asia.
But when Elon Musk, the world's biggest tech tycoon visits India on January 10 and 11 to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, there are rumours that he would be meeting Gautam Adani and may even visit the Adani group's Ahmedabad headquarters. Musk is also entering India's telecoms market through his company Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX that has launched some 4000 low orbit satellites for his telecoms play. It remains to be seen if Musk, on his maiden visit here, meets Mukesh Ambani, his rival in the telecoms space in India.
Representing Prime Minister Modi
When S Jaishankar, India's Minister of External Affairs, visited Russia in December last month, President Vladimir Putin made a rare gesture of meeting him. Not only this, Putin sat across the table with Jaishankar for a dialogue. It was one of the first instances where Russia's strongman was meeting an Indian minister for a bilateral dialogue as part of the India and Russia annual summit. Otherwise, Putin is known to meet and sit across the table only with his counterparts - Prime Minister and Presidents - from across the world for a bilateral dialogue.
So what made Putin hold a dialogue with Jaishankar?
"I represent PM Narendra Modi," Jaishankar said on his state visit to Russia. The blue-eyed boy of PM Modi, Jaishankar next visited France to meet President Emmanuel Macron.
For those who understand the nuances of strategic affairs, these high profile visits of Jaishankar and his meetings with head of states as a representative of PM Modi, is an indication of which way the winds are blowing. In the global geopolitical arena, many leaders already see Jaishnakar as a successor to PM Modi, wherever the PM is ready to move to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Hence, Jaishankar is received warmly by the head of states.
Jobs Security
When in service, Indian bureaucrats are often striving hard for 'plum postings.' But some have mastered the art of landing 'plum posts' after retirement from government service. Grapevine says that a former top boss of an investigative agency is now earning a five figure salary in multiples of five, as the group head of a financial services company. He is seen accompanying the chairperson of the company in all the meetings and is also using various tricks under his hat to stave off the takeover of the company by a leading corporate.
Also, job security is above all principles for most regulators. Recently, the chairman of a leading exchange moved over as the chairman of an investment company promoted by a leading Mumbai based stock market operator. For a long time, the same operator has been bullish on the exchange shares and was the key catalyst in pushing up its price by multi-fold levels. The operator had such a sway when his friend was the exchange chairman that he could get first hand information of the exchange's policy moves and timings of their announcements or even get them tailored. But when it's payback time, you can trust some operators to return the favour.
There is no dearth of jobs for the chairpersons of powerful regulatory bodies. A leading infrastructure company now has two former regulatory chiefs on its board. Before coming together on the same company board, they were on the opposite sides - one was the regulator and the other, a board member of a company that was subject of a show cause notice for non-disclosure of certain transactions and serious inquiries by the same regulator. But the company managed to settle the case and the regulatory chief, his board position post retirement.
Smart FM
This FM cannot be fooled easily. An MD, who is retiring from his position shortly, wanted to create an illusion of his reach in the power corridors of New Delhi by inviting the FM to inaugurate the new tech platform of his company. The MD believed that after the FM came to the function organised by him, it would be easy to win an extension of tenure since the regulators that approve his reappointment will be swayed by the show of strength and get a signal that he had blessings of the super boss of India's financial markets.
But on inquiry, the FM's office discovered that the new tech platform was implemented by the MD's company some 3 months ago, and there was nothing left to be inaugurated now. FM's plan was dropped even before it was made. Last heard, the MD who is in-eligible for a reappointment unless the regulator relaxes the (60 year) age criteria for application, is now flying to the US for training session or a conference. Perks of the positions before retirement.
Adani Short-selling
A confidential report by India's investigative agencies has named a corporate in the various conspiracies surrounding the $125 billion rout in the Adani Group shares in January 2023. The report is built on data from exchanges of entities linked to short selling and money transfers and unraveling of networks of overseas entities. The report also details other market operations, which hurt the incumbent Narendra Modi led government. The corporate honcho has been vocal about government support to Adani group and has made cryptic comments in the press. He was also a critic of the Modi government ahead of 2019 elections, since then, most thought that BJP would not get a thumping majority like 2015.
