‘Samiksha’-panel discussion series was held on
The panel for the discussion constituted of- Mr. Abhinav Sinha (Principal, Boston Consulting Group), Mr.Aravind Mahajan (Partner, IBM Consulting), Mr.Arun Patankar (Principal Advisor, CII), Mr.Yezdi Nagaporewalla (Director- Industrial Markets, KPMG), Mr.H. Rajaram (VP Finance, Bluestar). The moderator for the discussion was Mr. Biren Bhuta (Sr. Correspondent, NDTV).
The topic ‘India inc. going global’ had some heated discussion. The proceedings started off with a ten minute presentation by the panelists on the topic. The presentations highlighted the fact that Indian companies in the growth phase needed some boost to grow to the next level, and this boost can be provided by inorganic expansion in the global arena. The presentations were followed by panel discussion and an audience question and answer round.
Mr. Arvind Mahajan in his opening presentation stated that “Growth is back on the Indian CEO’s agenda, after years of cost cutting and restructuring”. He mentioned the recent trend towards setting up base in US and
Mr. Yezdi Nagaporewalla was of the view that “timing played an important role in mergers and acquisitions. An ill timed merger may go wrong even though there may be synergies in the two companies”. He showed cautious optimism by stating that
The discussions later focused on the intricacies of the recent Indian deals inked in the past year. The average deal size (which is less than $30 million) and frequency of mergers in
“Cultural differences can act as an impediment to successful mergers” said Mr. Abhinav Sinha. He also stated that “Global competitiveness is paramount, but developing synergies between the acquired companies is also of utmost importance”.
Mr H. Rajaram, VP, Bluestar, expressed a differing view asking why companies should blindly make global acquisitions when
Mr. Biren Bhuta deftly steered the discussion towards the issue of global brand building exercise, looked into by the major players in Indian industry. The issues of Indian brands building a strong image and the effect of the globalization leading to head-on competition in the global arena also came up.
The discussion ended with the note that mergers and acquisitions are the way forward for Indian companies. Though the deals are smaller in comparison with US and