Patriarchy In Godrej Family
For those who could see through all the applause, delight and wonder of the amicable division of the Godrej family's business empire, a glaring theme of male dominance stood out. The majority of the Godrej Empire valued at over Rs 3 lakh crore has been divided between the two brothers - Adi Godrej, the present head of the family and his brother Nadir Godrej. The two will retain control of seven companies in the Godrej IndustriesGroup, including five listed companies: Godrej Industries, Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Properties, Godrej Agrovet, Astec Lifesciences and the unlisted Godrej Seeds and Genetics and Innovia Multiventures. While Nadir has no daughters but three sons, Adi's two daughters Tanya and Nisaba were leading from the front in the family business. Nisaba is the Executive Chairperson of Godrej Consumer Products and has been the key architect of GCPL's strategy and transformation for the last fifteen years. Tanya is the Executive Director and Chief Brand Officer at Godrej Group, responsible for reinventing the brand and also a director on the boards of several Godrej Group companies... the list goes on. Yet, Nadir will be the chairman of Godrej Industries Group till August 2026 and Adi's son Pirojsha, who will remain the executive vice-chairman, will take over Nadir's role post-August 2026. No placards for women's rights here.
Big Fat Ambani Wedding: Party Must Go On
Everything that the Ambani family does has a larger-than-life theme - so is the wedding celebrations of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's younger son Anant with Radhika Merchant. Before India's national elections kicked in, the social media and news channels were dominated by visuals from the Jamnagar Jamboree of Anant and Radhika's pre-wedding bash that kept the masses entertained for the whole of March. Now a Deep-Throat tells us, the celebrations have only taken a pause so that the masses can focus on elections. Once polling ends, the Ambanis will return to party mode. Beginning May 28 and spreading across June, Anant and Radhika would be holding multiple cruise parties - bachelorette(s). The wedding ceremony is scheduled to be held in July at Mumbai's famed Jio Mall - built by the Ambani's - where around 2500 guests including the who's who of global Business, Politics and Movie industry will descend to grace the ceremony. That's not it. The wedding will be followed by a global reception at New York, London, Abu Dhabi and so on... The celebrations may finally conclude with a (grand) reception at New Delhi in October. Thereafter, soon the Diwali parties would begin.
In Sebi, Bosses Are More Equal
George Orewal's Animal Farm is practically followed by SEBI. A recent internal circular of SEBI on Employee Service Regulations said that the salary and retirement benefits of the regulatory officials facing corruption-related complaints and charges would be withheld. Such a circular has been necessitated by the fact that the stock market regulator has been receiving several companies regarding corruption by current and past SEBI officials. This circular of Sebiis applicable to all those employees of the regulator who are working on a permanent basis or on contracts. But the most important fact to note here is that SEBI Employee Service Regulations are applicable to the rank and file within SEBI starting from the Executive Director to the low-level officials. Legal experts say, the top regulatory bosses i.e. SEBI chairperson and Whole Time Members may remain outside the purview of this circular since Employee Service Regulations are not applicable to them as they are appointed by the government and not the SEBI board. Clearly, like the Animal Farm, bosses in SEBI are more equal.
