<div>The workforce reduction that began three years ago is now behind us”<br />— John Chen, CEO, BlackBerry, in a memo to employees, declaring the company is, in fact, ready to begin modest hiring in certain areas of business<br /><br />“There are no signs of industrial development in West Bengal”<br />—Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus, Tata Sons, at an interactive session <br /><br /> “Perhaps he (Ratan Tata) has lost his mind... He should rather focus on other <br />hobbies like flying an aeroplane”<br />— Amit Mitra, finance minister, West Bengal, in response to Ratan Tata’s comment on the state’s lacklustre industrial scenario <br /><br />“BSNL will not be allowed to die”<br />— Ravi Shankar Prasad, telecom minister, vowing to revive state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam<br /><br />“We’re not lacking something that we need”<br />— Jeff Bewkes, CEO, Time Warner, at a conference, making clear that he doesn’t believe Time Warner needs to combine with any other big company<br /><br />“It’s our pound and we’re keeping it, come what may”<br />— Alex Salmond, first minister, Scotland, indicating that an independent Scotland will use sterling even if a formal sterling zone is rejected by the UK government<br /><br />“HBO rocks, and we are honoured to be in the same league”<br />— Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix, after the digital entertainment company topped HBO in subscriber revenue<br /><br />“There are few places in the world other than India and the US where the son of a tea seller in a small-time town can rise to be the prime minister (Narendra Modi) or the child of a Kenyan father can rise to be the president (Barack Obama)”<br />—Chuck Hagel, US defence secretary, while talking about the opportunities available in the two countries, on a visit <br /><br />(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 08-09-2014)</div>
