Karsanbhai Patel&rsquo;s innovative marketing strategies pulled the rug from under the multinationals.

Inventor of low-cost detergents

Business Standard

In the early 1990s, Lalbhai withdrew all of the company&rsquo;s products, focussing purely on denim.

Denim sultan

Sudhir Mehta has taken the Torrent Group into ever-newer areas.

Calculating risk-taker

Amit Patel has turned a conservative organisation into a professionally managed one.

The innovator

Born into a family of doctors, Shah studied engineering and set up a foundry.

The global operator

Mukesh Bhandari&rsquo;s early research experience has stood him in good stead.

Man of steel

Starting out in trading, the Sandesara group is now a diversified multi-billion dollar conglomerate.

Serial entrepreneur

Janmejay Vyas has in a short period of time diversified into multiple areas.

A finger in every pie

It is difficult to fathom whether the &lsquo;chop shop&rsquo; Senator is India&rsquo;s friend or foe.

Newsmaker: Charles Schumer, US senator

He has been locked in a verbal duel with at least three chief ministers and four of his Cabinet colleagues: Praful Patel, Sharad Pawar, Kamal Nath and P Chidambaram.

Minister for non-clearances

The NC Saxena Committee, set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, details the manner in which laws have been flagrantly flouted to facilitate a project that has been aggressively opposed by tribal groups in the area.

Wide-ranging violations prompted ministry action

It&rsquo;s not only his five marriages that made Gegong Apang a colourful personality in Arunachal Pradesh politics. His political acumen and strong manoeuvring skills also made him the longest-serving chief minister of the picturesque, sparsely-populated hilly state. Apang is currently in police custody in connection with a Rs 1,000-crore public distribution system scam.

A mighty, fallen

Many readers of my previous column that showed Kerala as the richest state in the country responded with their views on the state. Two common observations I made about these responses were that though Kerala was rich, it recorded the highest consumption of alcohol (a fact that I confirm from the data) and had the highest suicide rate.

Mahesh Vyas: So who's the average citizen of a state?

Raj Jain, the president of WalMart India and managing director &amp; CEO of Bharti Walmart, made an interesting observation at a recent Business Standard event. The first-mover advantage, he told the audience, is a grossly over-rated business tactic. In their eagerness to be the first to hit the market, companies often come out with an incomplete or imperfect product. Those who do well, said Jain, are often the second or the third movers. They learn from the mistakes made by the first mover.

Bhupesh Bhandari: First in, first out?

Her anti-CPI(M) agenda makes her popular in Left Front-weary West Bengal.

Newsmaker: Mamata Banerjee

The revised code, if implemented in the present form, will complicate financial planning for investors.

Stock market investments may be subject to tax risk

The revised discussion paper released by the government on the Direct Taxes Code (Code) brought cheer on many fronts such as the minimum alternate tax (MAT), personal taxation and special economic zones, (SEZs). However, the discussion paper falls short on various recommendations made with reference to the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR).

Second draft raises new anxieties on GAAR rules

In its second draft of the Direct Tax Code (DTC), the Union ministry of finance has brought back many small perks not included in the first draft last year.

DTC rethink on cut in tax exemptions

Taxes on FIIs may rise with long-term capital gains in the net.

Investment through PNs set to rise with proposed DTC

The revised discussion paper on the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) may have brought some cheer to the industry and the taxpayers by dropping several of the &lsquo;harsh&rsquo; proposals suggested in the first draft, but the party may not last for long. Just three days after the discussion paper was released, Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra said eventually most exemptions would have to be phased out.

'A simpler tax statute remains the aim'

North Block officials presented the revised discussion paper on the Direct Taxes Code (&ldquo;Code&rdquo;) to rush tabling a bill in the monsoon session of the Parliament. Changes proposed in the revised draft are very much in line with expectations and the reform agenda set out by the Finance Minister.

Tax reforms on track - DTC Bill calibrated!

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