Recently, a business magazine and a private sector bank came together to host a CFO awards event. Through the awards, the endeavour was to honour Indian CFOs who played a major role in securing the interests of their institutions against major uncertainties.
But what caught the attention of many assembled at the event was the category ‘Best woman CFO’ . This was one among the 15-odd categories of awards given away on that day. Some even wondered why not ‘Best CFO-male’ or something to this effect.
This doubt was well answered by the winner of the Best woman CFO award herself. The winner admitted she had also discreetly enquired from organisers as to why have a special category for ‘Best woman CFO’.
The organisers had conveyed that they wanted to encourage more women to move up the corporate ladder and take up the mantle of CFO.
The award winner told the audience that with more women candidates emerging as toppers in CA exams, the organisers may have to think differently in the coming days. Probably a special award category — ‘Best male CFO’!
What’s in a name? Plenty
Over the last few days, news about agents of various deposit-taking companies have been splashed across newspapers. Interestingly, the name of one of the deposit-taking companies — Sunmarg — bears a striking resemblance to a Kolkata-based Hindi daily.
The only difference lies in the second letter of the word; the pronunciation is the same. This is probably why the newspaper had to publish advertisements, in other dailies as well, clarifying that it was not involved in any way with deposit schemes.
Silence pays
Meeting the Chennai media recently, N. Srinivasan, Managing Director of India Cements, was his usual feisty self. Unfazed by what he called the ‘tsunami’ that buffeted him for over ten days, especially the high pressure coverage by one media house, Srinivasan said the wave had gone past when he stepped aside from the BCCI Presidentship.
Asked why he chose not to respond to the sustained media pressure, Srinivasan said the atmosphere was too vitiated and anything he said clarifiying his position would not have got the same space in the papers as the reports calling for his ouster.
Identity crisis
Television journalists are always in a hurry to get the first byte. At the recent emergency meeting of the Board of Cricket Control in India in Chennai, a gentleman carrying a suitcase came out of the hotel where the meeting was being held. As he got into the car, videographers and TV journalists mobbed him and asked him a volley of questions without knowing his identity. He replied patiently.
At the end, when asked by a television reporter to identify himself, he said, ‘I am Dalmiya’. He then hopped into his car and vanished.
The journalists who were then scrambling to know who that person was only realised later that it was not Jagmohan Dalmiya, former president of BCCI, but somebody else altogether. BCCI’s Dalmiya came out only after three hours.
The education industry
With media schools mushrooming across the country, it was not surprising to see yet another advertisement in a national daily offering TV anchor training, radio jockeying and print journalism. What was surprising, however, was that the advertisement said the media course was being offered by the Micro and Medium and Small Industries Ministry! A change of priorities?
FM and the law of limitation
With general elections less than a year away, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram tried his best to impress upon bankers and journalists that growth under UPA I and II was relatively better than the previous NDA regime.
At the Indian Banks’ Association’s 66th annual general meeting on June 6, the Finance Minister said, “I know the media is fond of saying that in 2012-13, India recorded its lowest growth (5 per cent) in a decade. The keywords are not ‘lowest growth’ but ‘in a decade’. But the lowest growth was registered in a year which was just outside the decade (read: when the BJP-led NDA was in power). If you would recall, the lowest growth was recorded in 2001-02 and 2002-03. In fact, in those two years, the growth was 4.3 per cent and 4 per cent.
Those were not the years when there was a crisis in the world. Yet, India recorded the lowest growth since the turn of the century. Not many remember that. I think there is a law of limitation for remembering. And, I would like to see how many in the media report that the lowest growth since the turn of the century was 2001-02 and even lower growth in 2002-03. I look forward to reading the Mumbai edition of newspapers tomorrow.”
When Chidambaram spoke, NaMo’s (Narendra Modi) recent thumping election victory must surely have been playing on his mind. The media picked up most of what the erudite Finance Minister had to say on gold, current account deficit, and the rupee.
However, his wish to read news in next day’s papers about growth being the lowest at the turn of the century remained unfulfilled.
Tailpiece
Real estate players may have welcomed the Real Estate Regulation Bill on the face of it but many leading players are unhappy, especially with one clause — imprisonment.
“There is a provision of imprisonment in the Bill for not adhering to timelines. Will it also include Government Authorities and their heads?
If so, then Government Officers posted in Public Authorities will also be liable to face imprisonment for delay in project clearances. Can the Government prescribe such a draconian provision?” they ask.