Khabri, Kaikeyi, Khata, Kaash and the Boss

KAIKEYI is an important character in the Indian epic - Ramayana. More importantly, do you know Manthara in that story? Without Manthara, the Ramayana might have not had the long twists and turns it does.

- Srinath Sridharan & Nilesh Khare

But what's that got to do with Indian family businesses? Businesses, led by promoters in India, and family businesses in particular, have many idiosyncratic and interesting characteristics.

These could be flawed but fabulous, amusing but adorable, messy but man-made, irreverent but important, but not ignorable. A few peculiar ones - Khabri (informer) and Khata (old fashioned daily accounts of profit and loss)-relate to how information flows to the promoters with their interesting, often less-well-appreciated consequences.

Kaikeyi, a boss who suffers from Khabri's influence

If you are familiar with the epic of Ramayana you would recall queen Kaikeyi's personal servant Manthara. She arguably played the most important role in the epic. Manthara heard about Ram's elevation to the prince regent status, saw this development from her own sense of insecurity and the likely loss of status for Kaikeyi and her son, prince Bharat. She informed Kaikeyi and influenced her to demand exile for Ram, and a throne for Bharat. Manthara might not qualify as an appointed Khabri, but this episode comes very close to how the Khabri system works.

Khabri-an informant.

The quintessential Khabri is a trusted informant who passes information on activities and people to the promoters or top bosses. We observe that the promoters' ability to have a network of such informants across their organisation - the length and breadth of their business empire- is astounding. Being a Khabri is not easy. It involves the ability to identify information that may be of interest to the promoters and retain it, and to pass it on without arousing suspicion among the other stakeholders. Khabries, regardless of their actual work performance in their assigned roles are often retained, encouraged, and rewarded - even outside the formal system - by the promoters.

Khata-MIS system.