RIL's Consumer Bet

Mukesh Ambani has expanded the Reliance empire by betting big on telecom and retail.

The Conversation ANISH SHAH

Anish Shah, MD & CEO, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), took charge of the group from Pawan Goenka at a time the economy was under a lockdown. Shah, the first professional CEO to have complete oversight of the group in its 75-year history, says M&M aims to dominate the SUV segment again and will not hesitate to pull away from businesses that don’t make financial sense.

A Boardroom Win For Women

Regulations have ensured board seats for women, but that’s a battle just half won

Nirmala Sitharaman - Why India Will Be Among The Fastest Growing Economies?

The big challenge for Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, whose first full-year budget (Feb 1, 2020) coincided with the onset of coronavirus in India, was negotiating the macroeconomic crisis that followed. Now, as the threat seems to abate, multiple green shoots of revival are visible. In an exclusive interaction with Fortune India, Sitharaman explains how the government handled the pandemic, how daily monitoring of credit guarantee schemes helped disbursals, and why she believes that India will be among the fastest growing economies in the years ahead.

Indian Pharma's US Play

Home-grown smaller players are giving biggies a run for their money in the US generics market.

‘Getting Stuff Done' at Zoom

Former corporate attorney-turnedinvestment banker, and now the first COO of Zoom, Aparna Bawa is riding the wave of video communications during the pandemic.

Heiress on Duty at RIL

Isha Ambani, the daughter of India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is carving out a place for herself within Reliance Industries Ltd.

The Intrepid Firefighter

Nirmala Sitharaman has steered the country’s economy through one of its most trying times ever, having a far-reaching impact on lives and livelihoods.

India Inc's Unconscious Bias

Women in leadership roles are far and few. Is India Inc. doing enough to groom them to be leaders?

How we Did it

Fortune India’s coveted Most Powerful Women In Business is not just the only ‘ranking’ among a host of ‘listings’, it is also a finely curated annual exercise that takes nearly three months to complete.

DRDO's Missile Woman

The first woman in the country to head a missile project, Tessy Thomas has contributed in various areas, including guidance, control, inertial navigation, trajectory simulation and design, in 33 years with Agni missiles.

“I Didn't Raise Money For The First 7 Years. Raising Money Is A Light And Sound Show”

“Investors see who you are, your team. It’s like selling a dream. They don’t give money to your business, they give you the money because you are an incredible guy and have a great team.”

“KEPT GROWING THE CORE BUSINESS”

“Always focus on core elements such as users, engagement, technology and monetisation. Let the metrics and outcomes speak for themselves, recognition and valuation will follow.”

“Tracked Every Feedback From Users All Over The World”

“We were obsessive about product reviews and user requests. We had in-depth conversations with developers as often as possible. We also relied on quantitative methods to build our business model.”

“Idea Of Cash On Delivery Was A Major Innovation”

“CoD opened up a larger customer base for us than before. Another defining moment was getting the SEO right — we were getting customers for free, but our cost of marketing was zero!”

“Failed A Few Times, But Learnt From Them, Still Took Risks” “

If you are in a disruptive industry, businesses don’t scale in a linear way. There comes a moment when you have the right product at the right price point with the right value proposition for enough customers. At that point it will just explode.”

“Did Not Remote-Control The Business”

“Marketing technology varies with countries. In the U.S students read the brochure and there is very little interaction with the programme advisor. In India, if we don’t speak to students, they don’t enroll. Latin America is predominantly on Whatsapp; the U.S. uses FB Messenger widely.”

“Built A Massive Network Among Retailers”

“The quality of your product will always be the best indicator of the company. What we do on the technology side and the product side is good, so what you need on the sales side is only distribution. As long as the quality is great, the product will sell easily.”

“Designed Products Not For Fortune 500, But Fortune 5 million”

“Customers love our products because they are for the service engineer, the IT or sales person. People who use the software help us get better. We have 52,000 customers in over 120 countries.”

“Always Let People Do Their Job”

“It’s hard to let go when you are still young. We managed to do really well in hiring the first core team, and that is the most critical part of our story.”

When Art Defied A Shrinking Economy

As artists caught on to digital avenues and social media paved the way, luxury art industry found a new market amid the pandemic.

Green Way For Luxury Cars

Automakers bet on electric vehicles, find new playbook to target the country’s growing affluent millennial populace

COUPED IN MANSIONS

THE CAMELLIAS RESIDENCES IN GURUGRAM, WITH A STARTING PRICE OF ₹30 CRORE, ARE DRIVEN BY INNOVATIONS LIKE A CLUBHOUSE DESIGNED BY INTERNATIONAL ‘GRAND MASTERS’. WITH 80% OF THE APARTMENTS SOLD, DLF IS LOOKING TO RAKE IN ₹12,000 CRORE

HIGH-END VILLAS BEAT PANDEMIC BLUES

WITH MORE PEOPLE WILLING TO PAY A PREMIUM FOR OPEN SPACE, PRICES HAVE RISEN BETWEEN ₹5,000 AND ₹12,000 PER SQ. FT. IN CITIES SUCH AS MUSSOORIE AND SHIMLA IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS.

LUXURY REBOOTS, RECONNECTS

BRANDS UP THEIR DIGITAL GAME TO WOO MILLENNIALS JUST AS SUSTAINABILITY AND REVENGE SPENDING TAKE CENTRE-STAGE IN LUXE CONSUMPTION.

VINTAGE ON WHEELS

RANA MANVENDRA SINGH OF BARWANI HAS ‘RESTORED’ A NUMBER OF HIGH ROLLERS, INCLUDING A 1912 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER GHOST AND A GOLD-PLATED DAIMLER. THE RENOWNED CAR HISTORIAN IS NOW PLANNING TO RECREATE THE ‘LOST’ DESIGNS OF CARS FOR THE MAHARAJAS.

RUSH HOUR FOR MILLIONAIRE HOMES

WITH THE BULL RUN IN EQUITIES ACTING AS A CATALYST, INDIA’S HNIs ARE BACK TO BUYING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR HOMES

THE RETURN OF LA SAMARITAINE

THE ICONIC ART DECO AND ART NOUVEAU STRUCTURE WAS RENOVATED OVER SIX YEARS BY 800 SKILLED CRAFTSPEOPLE FOR A REPORTED $1 BILLION AND OPENED IN JUNE. THE DEPARTMENT STORE AND MIXED-USE COMPLEX PROMISES TO LET YOU SAVOUR AN AUTHENTIC FRENCH EXPERIENCE.

TIMELESS TICKERS

IN THE PHYGITAL WORLD, AUCTION HOUSES SUCH AS CHRISTIE’S HAVE CLOCKED THE HIGHEST-EVER SALES THIS YEAR FOR TIMEPIECES, WITH YOUNGER AND DIVERSE BUYERS SNAPPING UP SOME OF THE MOST EXCLUSIVE WATCHES ON THE PLANET.

WHISKY TALES

HAND-CRAFTED IN SPEYSIDE, THE BALVENIE RANGE, THE WORLD’S MOST EXQUISITE AND CREATIVE SINGLE MALTS, IS THE RESULT OF EXPERIMENTATION BY MALTMEN, COOPERS AND MASTER BLENDERS THROUGH GENERATIONS.