below the line . PMO pile-up

Now that the general elections are behind us, all eyes are now on the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Reason: The appointments of chief executives in several financial institutions are stuck as ‘pending files’ in the PMO. Once NDA-III assumes office, you are going to see a flurry of activity in the form of appointments, said a government observer.

But what if there is a new Finance Minister at North Block? Then there could be further delays in the process is the general view among those in the fray.

Getting a share of the eyeballs on a day when viewers are glued to their TV sets or smartphones to get the latest updates on election results is a big challenge for brands. But one brand clearly stood out on the poll results day.

A gaffe by a TV anchor, referring to Sunny Deol mistakenly as Sunny Leone, helped brand Manforce get the opportunity to capitalise on its brand ambassador on a day which was clearly marked with a clutter of brands on TV screens.

Leone was trending on social media through the day. In jest she wrote, “Leading by how many votes?” The condom brand was quick to jump in with a reply, “@SunnyLeone Hope you are not tired with all the running that you do in our minds.”

Referring to the TV anchor, the tweet added, “We understand she is always on our mind as well #TheNationKnows.” All publicity is good publicity indeed.

Banking reforms are going to come thick and fast in the first six months of the new NDA government going by the murmurs in the corridors of power. Brace up for more consolidation. Punjab National Bank, which itself is now on a weak wicket post the Nirav Modi scam, will have to gear up to gobble up some weak banks, it seems.

However, those who are propagating PNB gobbling up Allahabad Bank may be in for disappointment. With the two banks on different core banking platforms, it will be difficult for the DFS (Department of Financial Services) mandarins to match their kundli (horoscopes) is how a veteran banker cheekily put it. With Indian banking marriages made in the DFS and not in heaven, anything is possible, quipped another banker. State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda can vouch for this.

After his resounding electoral victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take India’s foreign diplomacy achievements to a higher level. The next event where Modi will get to meet heads of nations will be the upcoming G20 Summit at Osaka on June 28 and 29. The buzz in the corridors of power is that Modi may have one or two tricks to share with US President Donald Trump (when they will be seeing each other) on how to achieve “landslide” electoral victories without outside assistance or influence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen as a diplomat by many in India, but is his team quick to take action? Doesn’t seem so. Said a senior Indian diplomat: “India is called NATO — no action talk only — by some loyal friends in the developing world. This is because while we keep talking, China takes away the project.” After all it is fastest finger first.

Public policy advocates are tight-lipped about the new government and are saying that they would want the NDA-III to be formed before spelling out their expectations. At a recent function to discuss public policy advocacy, heads from major companies shied away from speaking to journalists about their expectations. One of the representatives even said that it is too sensitive an issue and really didn’t want to set the cat among the pigeons before knowing what is being dealt with.

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