Cover Story

The Battle for Indian Retail
How Mukesh Ambani, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Walmart's Doug McMillon are fighting to get a bigger slice of India's $850 billion retail market

2020-12-27

Nair, the Part-time Farmer

"Its your team that matters as you cant do much single-handedly. That is true on a farm as well as in a well-fuelled corporate entity. Having a good team is crucial," said Sameer Nair

The Disruptor

"The feeling of being able to break things apart, fix them and put them back together is immensely satisfying. It keeps the student in you alive, and we are always learning, aren't we?" says Anand Agarwal

Vishakha's Mentoring Lessons

"I believe that to promote gender diversity, we need to mentor men to empower them to provide equal opportunities to women," says Vishakha

The Colourful Bond of the Patnis

Amit Patni's passion has rubbed off on his wife as well. "Now both of us buy art materials and paint together. She's being even better at it as friends and family now demand her paintings more than mine. I feel competitive," he laughs

Agrawal's Elephant Safari

Over 200 elephant prints and figurines now adorn various shelves in Sonal Agrawal'shome and office in brass, glass, ceramics, wood, silver, enamel, mud, paper, leather, clay, cloth, and even one fashioned out of a coconut

Technology

Date Centre Boom

With the rise in Cloud adoption, data generation and emergence of data-as-a-service model, data centre business in India is not just growing big, but also emerging as the new real estate asset class

Policy

Fraught With Risks

Allowing big industrial houses in the banking sector has its own set of challenges

Making Medicines in India

Centre has announced two schemes to reduce import dependence in medicine manufacturing. Will they work this time?

Time for Modi-Biden Tango

Having deliberately opted out of the world's largest trade bloc, RCEP, India can now push for the limited trade deal with the US

Management

Tapping Gig Talent

How companies are reorienting their systems to integrate short-term workers

Interview

"We Have 120-130 Disruptive Companies Under One Roof"

With over $100 billion of assets under his watch, Rajeev Misra presides over undoubtedly the largest fund on the planet, managing what he calls the "biggest collection of disruptive companies under one roof" at Softbank Vision Funds I & II. Their collective spending power greater than the GDP of 127 countries

Industry

Hungry for Stressed Assets

Private equity and stressed asset funds continue to show interest in acquiring value assets undergoing insolvency proceedings despite delays and litigation

Editors note

Retail's Battle of Wallets & Wits

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail, Jeff Bezos's Amazon Inc. and the Walton family's Walmart-Flipkart combo are pitching themselves for the long haul in Indian retail

Corporate

Pressing the Pedal

A spate of acquisitions in the last five years has put Motherson Group among the 50 biggest automotive component firms globally. It is now eyeing a place in the top 10 by trebling revenues by 2025

PhonePe: Life Beyond UPI

In less than four years, PhonePe has emerged as the leader in UPI transactions, neck-and-neck with Google Pay, leaving behind Paytm and others. But where is the revenue model?

Push for a Rebound

Companies garner record profits in July-September after four quarters of decline as cost reductions and revival in economic activity boost balance sheets; manufacturing firms steal the show

Leadership Spotlight