Vijay Mallya, the liquor Baron, successfully saved the day for India by securing the winning bid of $1.8 million dollars or roughly 9 crores in Indian Rupees.  Vijay Mallya, the Indian Businessman and Rajya Sabha MP was ranked 362nd wealthiest person in the world and 7th in India with a net worth of US $1.2 billion.

Indignation over the sale of glasses, sandals, watch and bowl in the US was expressed by the Indian Government and the Government rightfully wanted to claim the items back. James Otis, the collector of the items called off the bid in the eleventh hour because of which the bidding ended in a disarray. The auction house has substantionally invested in publicizing the event and it is doubtful if they will allow Otis to call off the auction.

The news that Vijay Mallya rescued Gandhi’s items brought relief to millions of Indians back home. Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi is not convinced about the matter. He is still doubtful about the reliabity of Mr Otis.

As a fellow Indian, I am very pleased that Mr Mallya has done India proud. Gandhi’s items have a lot of historical significance and value. So it is only fitting that they be preserved for posterity, which is very doubtful if a foreigner manages to get hold of it. Lets see how things proceed since the final bid has been secured by an Indian.

 If there is one thing that has not been drastically affected by this economic downturn, it is the Multiplexes.Sure the hunch has troubled every industry even the cinema industry but the fact that the number of movie buffs are not demotivated to watch movies in India, is a very good sign.    When did this Multiplex culture start? well it all began when Ajay Bijli started “PVR Anupam” at Saket, New Delhi, capital city of India in 1997.And today PVR is the India‘s one of the largest chains of  multiplexes with 101 screens in 25 Multiplexes (as of 2007).PVR genesis:

 Priya Village Road show Cinemas, simply known as PVR, started as a joint venture between Priya Exhibitors Private Limited and Village Road show Limited. If you thought you heard the name ‘village road show ltd’ before ,you are right it’s the same Australian media giant that produced THE MATRIX trilogy, Ocean’s Eleven and many Hollywood biggies. Its into Theme parks, multiplexes for many decades.   

        Ajay Bijli was initially into his dad’s transport business and then had a thought about improvising the movie viewing. Purchased an old theatre and upgraded that with good seats and sound systems and that’s how it all began. PVR is the biggest player in DELHI and National capital region. It has the country’s biggest Multiplex with 11 screens in Bangalore.

PVR future:  PVR is now planning to invest about 400 crores, that’s 4 billion INR, to increase the number of screens to 250 by 2010.PVR has also launched other brands like PVR Premiere targetted for the metros, and PVR Talkies for Tier II and Tier III cities. Soon it’s going to launch a big multiplex with bowling alleys, ice skating and gaming zones.    Ajay Bijli is also into movie production and distribution. Films include Taare Zaamen Par,Bheja fry,jaane tu.Being the Chairman and managing director of PVR, Ajay has a long-term vision to make PVR India’s most favorite Retail Entertainment Company.

 In January 31st, 2007 the Tata Group pulled off one of the biggest acquisitions in Indian corporate history. The Corus Group, an Anglo-Dutch steel and aluminum conglomerate was taken over by the Tata Sons against an astounding £6.7 billion at the rate of 608 pence per share against a Brazilian steel company that had bid 603 pence.” Ratan Tata is regarded as the doyen of the new era of business enterprises in the Indian mainland. The 21st century has at last, it is said, a true patron by whom the Indians can dream of a world contest by virtue of intelligence, entrepreneurship and perseverance. Of the very little information about Ratan Tata in the public domain, it is well known that he had a troubled childhood. Ratan Tata was born into an old Parsi family of Bombay, the first child of Soonoo & Naval Hormusji Tata. His parents separated in the mid-1940s, when he was about seven and his younger brother Jimmy was five. His mother moved out and both Ratan and his brother were raised by their grandmother Lady Navajbai. During college, Ratan joined Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity (One of the oldest social fraternity of the United Statesfounded at Yale in 1845 ).In 1962, after graduating from Cornell University with a degree in Architecture and Structural engineering, Ratan joined the family business. Ratan turned down a job offer from IBM, following the advice of J.R.D Tata, and entered the family business. He was sent to Jamshedpur to work at Tata Steel. In true Tata fashion, there he worked on the floor along with other blue-collar employees, shovelling limestone and handling the blast furnaces. In 1971, he was appointed director-in-charge of The National Radio & Electronics Company (NELCO), a company that was in dire financial difficulty, no one; perhaps his best wisher even thought of its success. But Ratan realizing the potential that Nelco provided with an innate prudence that hi-tech was the way to go in the future; he lost no time and convinced J.R.D. Tata for further investment. Though J.R.D. was reluctant initially but the successes of Nelco proved the credence and aplomb of Ratan. This mindset of adopting risks towards the escalation of business gained a new stronghold when in 1991 the legendary J.R.D. Tata was replaced by Ratan epitomizing not only the change of the old guard but also a definite alteration of the shibboleth self-content of the erstwhile generations. By the time JRD passed away in December 1993, it was clear that Ratan Tata’s vision for consolidating group companies under the Tata Sons banner had the patriarch’s stamp of approval. As India’s second round of economic liberalisation got underway, the Tatas’ holding company gradually increased its shareholding in group companies like Tisco (now Tata Steel), Telco (now Tata Motors), Tata Chemicals and Tata Tea. Under him Tata Consultancy Services went public and Tata Motors was listed in the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998, Tata Motors came up with Tata Indica, the first truly Indian car. The car was the brainchild of Ratan Tata.

His aggressive approach towards business was best revealed when on January 31st, 2007 the Tata Group pulled off one of the biggest acquisitions in Indian corporate history. The Corus Group, an AngloDutch steel and aluminum conglomerate was taken over by the Tata Sons against an astounding £6.7 billion at the rate of 608 pence per share against a Brazilian steel company that had bid 603 pence. The merger created the sixth largest steel producing entity in the world and at once made Ratan Tata an immortal figure in the history of Indian corporate business culture. Another feather of success got attached with this man when he presented the latest Tata fourwheeler model Tata Elegante at Geneva on March 6, 2007. This model was appreciated by all the global dealers of four-wheelers. In the meeting he told the press about his Singursmall-car plant. According to him, manufacture is going to start there soon and the first small car costing around Rs 1 lakh is going to be launched by the middle of 2008. With the Tatas growing from Rs 13,000 crore group in 1993 to Rs 1.5 lakh crore following the acquisition of Corus, all eyes are now on the reclusive Ratan Tata. The US-educated bachelor lives alone with his two German Shepherds in an apartment in downtown Mumbai. He is known to slip into the front seat alongside his driver to and from work. He is the man who was instrumental in the setting up of the Tata Foundation, the progenitor of multitude of social causes that include the rural, universal health development, eradication of water scarcity and others. Known to guard his privacy jealously, Ratan Tata has been spotted at Parsi fire temples on festival days. He is known to be a supporter of the traditional Parsi way of life and is believed to have funded the religious education of community youngsters. However Tata’s publicists do not comment on this aspect of his life and the only bits of information trickle out from community members. He has a passion for homecooked food and is known to indulge deeply in art collection. Along the way, the trained pilot who still takes to the skies on his own aircraft has picked up a number of awards like the Padma Bhushan and Forbes Asia’s Businessman of the Year award. He serves in senior capacities in various organisations in India and he is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry. In March 2006 he was honoured by Cornell University as the 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, considered the highest honor the university awards to distinguished individuals from the corporate sector. From being solely linked to the success of the Indian economy, the Tata Group under Ratan Tata is looking at other destinations. Even troubled destinations like Sudan and Iran are on Tata’s radar. Having taken birth in a family that has earned its fame in the history of indigenous entrepreneurship, whose ample evidences are scattered through the length and breadth of India he has done justice to his legacy, which has been proved eloquently in the later years. The Tata Titans 1. Jamsetji Tata: The founder of the Tata Group began with a textile mill in central India in the 1870s.His powerful vision inspired the steel and power industries in India.

2. Sir Dorab Tata: Through his endeavours in setting up Tata Steel and Tata Power, this elder son of Jamsetji Tata was instrumental in transforming his father’s grand vision into reality. 3. Sir Ratan Tata: A philanthropist all his life, he created a trust fund for “the advancement of learning and for the relief of human suffering and other works of public utility”. 4. JRD Tata: The late chairman of the Tata Group pioneered civil aviation on the subcontinent in 1932 by launching the airline now known as Air India. 5. Naval Tata: Naval Tata’s myriad contributions in the fields of business, sports administration and labour relations symbolised all that is best in the Tata spirit of giving back to society

” When I thought of starting a company, I felt India needed 100 people like Narayana Murthy and Ambani. If 100 such people support 2 lakh people each, imagine how many Indians get supported. Entrepreneurship is needed to uplift the poor. It is not easy to be an entrepreneur, especially a first generation entrepreneur. There will be lots of challenges in the beginning but you should learn to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Never give up even if there are hurdles. There are many who give up within a week. You need determination and a tough mind to cross the initial hurdles.” E.Sarathbabu

E. SarathBabu is not the typical IIM Ahmedabad student you read about in the newspapers. He did not take the easy path to earn mega bucks in spite of being offered plum jobs from top companies. Instead he chose, like a true entrepreneur, to carve out his own path to success. So he started FOODKING.

His mother worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. Later he went on to complete his higher education in the prestigious BITS Pilani and IIM Ahmedabad.

In the beginning, he took a loan of Rs 20 lakh and started Foodking in August 2006. Initially the losses were poised at Rs 2000 a day. The cafeteria’s he set up initially did not work according to plan and he soon came to the conviction that only by selling in large volumes that any profit could be made.

In 2006 IIM A alumni meet, he hoped to bag a contract but could not.

In march 2007 he got an offer to start a unit at BITS, Pilani. This contract proved profitable. Spurred with this initial profit and with the money that he borrowed from his IIM A friends, he wanted to move ahead. He got BITS Goa contract which was to be his biggest break. He had to cater to over 1300 students and the sales peaked at 65,000 Rs per day.

Then he got an opportunity to serve at SRM deemed college which boasts of over 17,000 students!

Right now he has a turn around of Rs 3.5 crore per annum. By next year he hope to increase it to Rs 20 crores.

At present he has BITS hyderabad in his hands and it all set to be operational by July 2008. So the future does look rosy to this Foodking.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/31spec.htm

India’s no.1 job portal Naukri.com

Sanjeev prepared a database of jobs and wanted to launch a videotex service in  Delhi for the advertisement of Department of Telecom (DoT). This  project which never took off, was a pay-to-view model, where  initially the employer would be allowed to host his job free and they would earn from the revenue share the DoT would give. Sanjeev came to know of the World Wide Web in a visit to IT  Asia in 1996. After registering his website to get a domain name, in  March 1997 naukri.com site was set up as a division of InfoEdge. He  worked as a part-time employee  at The Pioneer for 4 years during that initial stage after launching naukri.com. Naukri.com became profitable from the second year. InfoEdge acquired Jeevansathi in September 2004. Besides, it has an offline recruitment business through its venture Quadrangle.

 During his stint with Glaxosmithkline, Sanjeev realised that employees love talking about jobs and career movement. He realised jobs are an extremely high interest information category for almost all people and headhunting had immense potential. His foresight was right. Today, naukri.com has over 3.5 million registered users and it is estimated that over 700,000 people have found jobs through naukri.com. Over 15,000 organisations have used this  site Naukri.com for recruitment

Virgin has launched its Virgin Mobile brand in India targeting the Indian youth, in a franchisee agreement with Tata Tele services. Virgin will launch its service in 50 cities, expanding to more than 1000 cities by the end of the year. Virgin Mobile estimates that there are about 22 crore plus youth mobile subscribers in India. Virgin the newest player in Indian Industry has rattled the competitors and surprised the consumers with a simple yet revolutionary idea. The idea is Virgin will give its customers 10 paise for every minute of incoming call they receive.

 Virgin’s CEO Richard Branson looks very confident that Virgin Brand can penetrate deeper into the Indian market and can create new waves in Indian mobile market especially targeting the Indian youth. Virgin has partnered with Tata Telecom services in India keeping its rates for out going calls in line with those of competitors. But the point of interest and discussion is about the incoming scheme, which gives the customer, 10 paise per minute. That means if you chat with your girl friend for 30 minutes then you will get 3 Rs for that incoming call duration of 30 minutes.

Virgin is now concentrating on CDMA services and also trying to expand its market by moving into GSM and post paid, where Virgin will get an older age group as well. Virgin is now mainly trying to create a Brand recall as it is the latest entrant into an already over crowded market. Though it is trying to move into GSM, it may be a difficult task for Virgin as recently 9 more companies like Unitech developers, Datacom, Syam Telecom etc., got the license to enter the completely filled GSM Networking. Virgin feels it is essential to move into GSM, as now a days customers prefer GSM to CDMA.The reason behind this is basing on the companies’ offers a customer can choose the required service from selected operator through GSM only. Besides these discussions Virgin has a flaw. That is the service scheme is across service providers and not just from Virgin to Virgin. So the incentive to acquire a Virgin number will be low. The main income source for a mobile is out going, but here in this case the complete concentration is on incoming calls. This will, therefore not reflect on the out going calls made on Virgin.

(PORCELAIN INSULATORS )         

               Generally in electric lines porcelain insulators are used from so many years.Recent incidents have prooved that porcelain insulators are inefficient.This is due to the continous snow fall and pollution in north Indian states which resulted in tripping of Power grid.As a result it interrupted the power flow and people from Delhi, Uttaranchal, Jarkhand , Gurgaon & Ghajiyabad have suffered a lot from almost 12hours of power cut.As we know the importance of electricity in our daily lives it has disturbed the smooth run of public life.Some of its consequences were interruption of Railway services & water supply.Keeping  these factors in mind Secretary of Central Electricity Board Anil Rajdhan called an emergency meeting and confirmed to replace porcelain insulators with polymer insulators after technical approval. 

                   First let us know what is a polymer and how it is formed.Polymerisation is a process in which simple molecules join to form large molecule with or without elimination of small molecules.The single unit participated in the Polymerisation is called monomer and the product is called polymer.For example Ethylene undergoes Polymerisation in the presence of oxygen at 200 degrees centigrade and 1500-2000 atmospheres pressure forming polyethylene or polythene.Generally polymers formed from Polymerisation of substituted ethylene CH2=CHX [X=Cl,CN,CH3COO etc) are used industrially.

     (PORCELAIN INSULATORS)

            It is quite interesting to see that just for insulators in India they have got a market value of 800 crores,Generally State Electricity Boards,Power Grid Corporation, Suzlon,Jyothi structures etc like firms will buy these insulators.Out of these 800 crores ,porcelain insulators only constitute the major part i.e, more than 95%. Due to the gradual growth in the usage of polymer insulators,the market value of polymer insulators is rapidly increasing.At the same time CPRI(Central Power Research Institute) also recommended the usage of polymer. 

                So capitalizing  on this situation Goldstone Infratech group of companies is preparing polymer insulators for electric lines of all capacities ranging from 11kv to 400kv.At the same time its CEO N.K.Ravel is trying to extend his business to manufacture of jointing kits suitable to oil-gas pipe lines,Electricity generation&manufacturing of Photo Voltaic Modules required for solar electric generation. 

• Revenues are expected to grow by 19% – 21%; expected to reach $ 5 billion in the fiscal 2009
• There was a net growth of 20% in the fiscal 2008
• Income was Rs 4,542 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008
• Net profit was reported at Rupees 1,249 crores after tax for quarter ended March 31, 2008
• Earnings per share increased to Rs. 21.83 from Rs. 20.30 for the corresponding quarter, the previous year. YoY growth was 7.5%
• Income was Rs. 16,692 crore for the year ended March 31st, 2008. YoY growth was 20%

• Earnings per share increased to Rs. 81.53 from Rs. 69.11 for the corresponding quarter, the previous year. YoY growth was 18%

Other related information:1. 40 new clients were added during the last quarter by Infosys and its subsidiaries.2. There was an addition of 5,947 employees during the last quarter and 33,177 employees for the year by Infosys and its subsidiaries.Looking ahead, these are the concerns and targets that INFOSYS has set for the coming year:

• They are looking to reduce onsite business by 1% every year.
• Revenue growth slowing down is a major concern
• Growth in BFSI is slowing but there are no cancellations.
• 76/100 clients are poised at maintaining or cutting their budgets.
• INFOSYS is planning to give a hike of 11-13% pay to employees in India and a pay hike of 4-5% to overseas employees.
• They are presently competing for 15 large contracts.
• They are expecting the rupee to slow down only marginally in the year 2008-2009. Slow down in revenue growth is a much bigger concern than the fluctuating Rupee.

The GMR group had no airport experience till 2001, yet it bagged a 30 year grant to develop a futuristic airport in Shamshabad, Hyderabad. This bid was won only after the GMR proved that it was technically competent by tying up with a minority partner, Malaysia Airport Holdings. However, it was not until 3 years later that the agreement was signed. The GMR group is believed to be investing about Rs 1,500 crores into this project with a capacity of handling 12 million passengers in 2008 alone. They have a mandate to develop a world-class international airport spread over 5,500 acres in Shamshabad, about 25 kms from the main city of Hyderabad.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) announced that the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad will commence operations from midnight of Saturday. The Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt is expected to land at 0025 hours on Sunday. Thus March 23rd 2008 will be the first operational day for the Airport at Shamshabad.

Partners for GHAIL or GMR-HAIL ( Hyderabad International Airport Limited):

GMR Infrastructure Ltd. has a stake of 63 %. Airports Authority of India is at 13 %, while the Government of Andhra Pradesh has 13 % of the stake. Malaysian Airports Holding Berhad is at 11 %

The GMR group is all set to position Hyderabad as a prominent player on the global aviation map contributing to the prosperity, development and economic well-being of the region.

In the year 2004, the government of India announced its intention to privatize its airports in Mumbai and New Delhi. The impressive list of Business Barons interested were Anil Ambani, Subhash Chandra and Anil Agarwal. Yet, the GMR group beat them all!

The GMR group spent spent $8 million on the bid, persuaded Fraport AG to partner with them so as to gain the stamp of being technically competent. In the end the effort paid off. New Delhi was chosen as the venue on which to build an Airport. The impressive growth potential was what attracted Mr. G.M Rao to invest in it.

Things seem to be going well for the GMR group at this moment. It remains to be seen as to how profitable it will eventually be.

Sachin Tummala was born in Ponnuru, near Guntur. His father was a Govt. employee. He was educated in Guntur. His schooling began in Lutheran High School. He finished his 11th and 12th grades in Hindu College. He completed his Engineering in RVR&JC. Once he was done with his Engineering, he was in a great dilemma.

What kind of business is the best to start with? So, he started with 2 or 3 experiments. But, they all failed. So, he joined as a trainee at BDPS in Bangalore. They sent Sachin to Singapore on a project. This was a big turning point in his life as it kept him in touch with the Financial Services market. He was exposed to the non IT field. He joined as a consultant for a project in Singapore Stock Exchange. He then went to California and joined as a consultant in Silicon Graphics. After that he worked in Lucent Technologies, Imation Corporation for 2 years. He believe he had enough knowledge to start a new business. So, he started Premium Technologies and sold it after 1.5 years. He made a good profit. In 1999, he started Carpus, which provides solutions to Telecom and Banking Sections. At present, the company’s branches are situated in US, Canada and Europe employing around 500 individuals.

The annual turnover is around 200 crores. In Bangalore, he bought a software company and developed it as R&D centre. He completed his MBA in Cox school of Business Executive in Dallas while he was a CEO at the age of just 32 years. Later Sachin was appointed as an advisory board member in Cox School, having worked as a partner for several IT projects.

Achievements and Accolades:

• He was a recipient of the “Distinguished Alumnus” award given in Cox School.
• He was selected as a member in Princeton Premier Registry & CEO club.
• He received “Entrepreneur of the year” from the Indian American Friendship Council.
• His company is one of the fastest growing companies in Dallas.

Strengths: Commitment, Fast and Accurate decision making, working without any concern for the time spent. Inspiring Person: Prasad Potluri-Director of Corpus At the moment: He is trying to expand his services in Hyderabad and he called 25 experts from Corpus, US to Hyderabad.

Mukesh- who? Obviously Ambani; No? Then must be the versatile singer we had.

Anil-Oh! Come on, there can be only one who goes around by that name and turns heads-Anil Ambani

Rahul—hmmmm? Dravid? History? Gandhi!!!! Yea, you said it.

Sonia- of course, the inevitable Gandhi, you silly.

Yes all these names ring an obvious bell or remind of another name not too far behind. There are several others like this. Because, day in, day out, you see them on TV, or read in the Press.

But now try recalling the name Chandru- Aha! Caught you there. Oh yes, the recently appointed Chairman of SEBI? Oh, excuse me, the ex-chairman of selectors for BCCI, Chandu Borde. No way. I asked Chandru and not Chandu.Ok, keep guessing. But suppose I tell you Chandru Raheja? What??? Where does he fit in? Of Course Rahejas, we know. But Chandru???? No way. Show me one Picture of his. Mention one venture by him…….hmmmmmm…….. give me time.

Now switch to Shopper’s Stop., In Orbit Malls, Hyper City, Mind space. Yes, ring a bell?

I don’t blame you. This is a case where the creator is obscure but the products are better known. Welcome to the world of Chandru Raheja, the Chairman of K. Raheja Corp, promoters of Shoppers Stop, Hypercity, In Orbit Malls etc. This 60-something, reclusive gentleman ranks 368^th in the Forbes’s list of top 500 Billionaires. With an assessed wealth of $3 billion (Rs 12000 crores.)

Mr. Chandru Raheja is credited with the upswing of Shoppers Stop, the pioneer chain that set off the Retail Boom in this country, even before Kishore Biyani came up with the Big Bazaar blitzkrieg. Totally media-shy, Shri Raheja is reputed for his far-sighted visionary zeal and the absolute faith he has in his trusted lieutenants. He is seldom heard to have changed his generals. If Rahejas are a name in Retail and realty, Chandru Raheja is the brain behind the success.

In a world where even the teenage son of a business giant flaunts his pedigree in designer clothes and jelled-up hair style when his dad launches an Airline, or the wives of business magnates suddenly become established social workers and the third Page of any paper is viewed with disdain if the faces of a few of these spouses are not grinning away at you, Chandru Raheja breathes in a whiff of fresh air, unpolluted and fragrant. But with the media attention already zeroing in on him, thanks to the Forbes ranking, the day may not be far off when we have Chandru Raheja “walking the talk” or being in the “Cross fire” of some TV journo or the other.

But, anonymity or not, let’s not fail to give the due credit to this gentleman-business man who ushered in the era of Retail boom and Mall culture, even before they were introduced in our neighbourhood.

Vishal is the founder and CEO of Indiagames.com, a company that develops and publishes games in India. He is the head of a team of around 300 people which includes graphic designers, gaming testers and gaming developers. His company outsources some work to Eastern Europe, USA and China. He has offices in Mumbai, Beijing, London and Los Angeles.

But did you know that he created his first game (Pacman Clone) at the age of 14? He started his company FACT (Futura Academy of Computer Technology) in 1993 in a garage with just three computers in Chembur, Mumbai. He used to teach students software programming, multimedia, etc.

Just a second, I missed one thing… in 1993 he was just 16. I mean to say, he started his company at the age of 16, just after finishing high school. Needless to say, he is a passionate gamer and used to play games all night long.

In 1997, he started developing games for advertisements. He went from company to company asking themes to create games. His first project was for Pepsi. He has also developed the scoring system for Femina Miss India contest. He launched a games website ‘Indiagames.com’ in 1997 as he wanted to capture the Indian gaming market. He had realised that there is immense scope for India-based games. He designed ‘I Love India’ a game based on Kargil war, where a player has to shoot terrorists who were trying to cross LOC. This game was an instant hit.

Indiagames.com was a very small venture with just five people operating it, until Vishal was contacted by two investment bankers from PricewaterhouseCoopers. They told Vishal that they will arrange for Venture Capitalists, who will provide him capital for expanding his company and in return these VC’s will take a stake in his company. PwC said that they will charge him for the success fee only if they are able to get the funds for him. An amount of 3.5 crores was arranged from VC’s, which was used for expansion of office and around 40 people were hired. Vishal was quite conservative in spending money, reason for this was unknown to himself. The famous dotcom bust made him to think of shutting down the online gaming and move to mobile gaming. However, the other board members wanted to go with providing services to foreign companies. So for some time, they were Service Providers also.

But there was something missing and Vishal knew what that thing was. He knew that he needed to come out with a few products in the market. He needed to license a character, develop a game and distribute it. However, choosing the character was a very difficult task. If the character were to fail in attracting gamers, they would lose big time. In the end of 2003, Spiderman-2 was set to be released. Vishal contacted Marvel comics and managed to get the worldwide license for Spidey. The game was released in 60 countries in 6 languages. Later, he acquired licenses for Bruce Lee, Jurassic Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Mask. Their revenues from game publishing have increased 10-fold.

Indiagames.com has partnership with nearly all major game publishers in the world. They have distribution deals with firms like Popcap, Atari, Codemaster Playfirst, and Activision. They also work with Qualcomm and Microsoft to give their games a cutting edge. Recently UTV has bought a majority stake in Indiagames.com. UTV has launched a channel ‘Bindass’ to tap the youth market. Vishal feels that combining Indiagames.com efforts with Bindass will be beneficial for the company in tapping the youth market.

Vishal’s dream is to give e-sports, the recognition of a sport. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, before breaking your head thinking about a unique or the latest business idea, just take two minutes and ask yourself, ‘do you have any hobby and are you passionate about it?’. Why don’t you give your passion a chance, may be it’s the best business idea for you.