Who is Ronen Sen? And why has this former IFS been roped in to scout for Tata Sons’ next chairman?

IN A sudden and unprecedented move, Cyrus Mistry — the chairman of $100 billion Tata Group— was removed on Monday, and chairman Emeritus of the Group Ratan Tata was recalled as its interim chairman. In the meantime, a panel was set up to search a new chairman within four months. Apart from Tata himself, this search committee will include Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra, Sushanta Kumar Bhattacharyya and a former Indian Foreign Service officer — Ronen Sen. But who’s this ex-diplomat? And why has he been roped in to select the next men at the helm of Tata Sons. Here it goes:

Indra Nooyi to Cyrus Mistry: Who are the corporate bigwigs spotted in corridors of power?

PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi with minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal

IN THE last couple of days, Delhi’s power corridors witnessed a flurry of corporate activities. On Monday, India’s biggest online retailer Flipkart, valued at about $5 billion, singed an MoU with Development Commissioner (Handlooms), an arm of union textile ministry. The idea is to provide online marketing platform to handloom weavers. Then on Tuesday, PepsiCo chairman Ms Indra Nooyi met food processing industries minister Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal amid a speculation that…

Ratan Tata frustrated over “bureaucratic delays”, says US media report

Ratan Tata, the chairman of $67 billion business conglomerate, is frustrated as he has not been able to expand his business in India the way he wished. And who’s to blame for that? According to a detailed interview-based article published in world’s largest circulated business daily, The Wall Street Journal on April 13, the 73-year-old Tata said bureaucratic delays, arbitrary regulatory decisions and widespread corruption prevented his domestic ambitions in sectors such as steel, power, aviation and telecommunications. These are some of the sectors where government’s regulatory mechanism is very high.

Tata’s words are taken seriously by investors abroad as his group has presence in many key markets around the world. After all, he is the owner of many foreign assets including Jaguar cars, the Pierre Hotel in New York and Tetley tea among others.

View bureaucrats’ assets on May 31, 2011

It’s now official. All immovable property details submitted by members of all Group A services including IAS, IPS, IRS etc. will be made public by the respective cadre controlling authorities by May 31, 2011. The date was given in a DoPT circular. In an earlier circular, it was made clear that those bureaucrats who fail to file their property returns would not be considered for promotion.

Residential complex in Greater Noida for soldiers

The Indian Army has will create a residential complex for its soldiers at Greater Noida near Delhi for which the foundation stone was laid by the Chief of Army Staff, General VK Singh on Wednesday.

White House gatecrasher socialite Michaele Salahi photographs with India's deputy chief of mission in US Arun K Singh

AMERICAN model and socialite Michaele Salahi and her husband Tareq Salahi, who had gatecrashed to White House state dinner in honour of Indian PM on November 24, 2009, not only shook hands with President Barack Obama but hobnobbed with top Indian officials and corporate honchos present during that reception. The celebrity Virginia couple, whose name was not on the guest list of the state dinner, also managed to photograph with Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi and with India's deputy chief of mission in US Arun K Singh, an Indian Foreign Service officer of 1979 batch. (See picture: Arun K Singh with Salahi couple) Ms Salahi in her facebook page has claimed that she was honored to be invited to attend the state dinner hosted by President Obama & the First Lady to honour India. She further mentions, "In June 2010, the America's Polo Cup will be between INDIA & the UNITED STATES. Please join me in this cultural celebration of politics, diplomacy, fashion, sports, entertainment & family fun". Significantly, the Salahi couple did not figure in the list of expected attendees which was released to the press by the White House. According to that list, Indian officials who were Obama's guests for that dinner included foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, deputy chief of mission in US Arun K Singh, MEA joint secretary (Americas) Ms Gaitri Kumar and personal secretaries Indian PM Jaideep Sarkar and I S Chaturvedi. The guest list also included some of the top Indian corporate leaders such as Mukesh D Ambani of Reliance Industries and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata. Now, an investigation has begun to find out how the couple managed to enter the venue which was highly protected, and every guest had to go through a security screening. US media commentators wondered how Michaele Salahi, who was not invited at all, could go upto Vice President of America and hugged him, a picture of which was also posted in various sites. Joint Secretary Shashi Bhushan to depose on sanction to prosecute Kasab The court handling the case of Mumbai attack, or 26/11, issued summons to Shashi Bhushan, joint secretary (Judicial) in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), to appear as witness and give details about sanction given to prosecute Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab and two others on charges of "waging war against the nation". The sanction of the Central government is required as the criminal conspiracy was hatched outside India. Bhushan had earlier granted sanction to prosecute Kasab and two others in connection with 26/11, media reports said.

Incredible! Amitabh Kant is front-runner for DMICDC's CEO; may handle USD 90 billion project

FORMER tourism joint secretary and 1980 batch Kerala cadre IAS Amitabh Kant is now the front-runner for heading Delhi Mumbai industrial corridor development corporation (DMICDC) which is the nodal body to execute USD 90 billion India-Japan friendship project, sources close to the development told babu blogger. Mr Kant, who is best known for his six-year-old (2001-2007) stint as joint secretary of tourism ministry, is credited with championing the ‘Incredible India’ campaign (See photograph above). Last month, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata released a book – “Branding India-An Incredible Journey”-- authored by Mr Kant who is now principal secretary and special commissioner (industries) of Government of Kerala. Significantly, the government short-listed a number of infrastructure honchos for the post of chief executive of DMICDC last year, and interviews were conducted in September 2008. But Mr Kant was nowhere in the picture when a search committee including cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, DIPP secretary Ajay Shankar and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) MD E Sreedharan, screened a few possible names for the post. The main contenders then included senior director of ICICI Venture and former IAS Shailesh Pathak, L&T infrastructure finance’s CEO Suneet Maheshwari, Gammon India’s MD Parvez Umrigar, I D International’s Hong Kong-based director Alok Jain, Ascendas Property Management Services India’s head, IT-SEZ, Rajeev Chadha, former IAS and currently CEO of Tata Realty and Infrastructure Sanjay G Ubale, KEC International’s CEO Ramesh Chandak and Petronet MHB’s MD S B Pandey. But a number of them including Mr Pathak and Mr Ubale were not so keen in taking up the job then. In fact, former industry secretary Ajay Dua was instrumental in shaping the concept of DMICDC, and it was widely believed that Mr Dua would be appointed as its chief executive post retirement. But the government decided to put an age-cap making it impossible for any retired person to contest for the post. It now remains to be seen whether Mr Kant, an officer from Kerala, clicks in power corridors of Delhi when Kerala is the ultimate flavour of the season in Raisina Hill!