Women hold lion’s share of Big Business

LEADING LADIES
Women hold lion’s share of Big Business
Deepshikha Monga & Vivek Sinha NEW DELHI


BEHIND every rich man, there’s a richer woman — or so it would seem if you go by the disclosed individual shareholdings of companies. Even as traditional Indian business houses have controlled their listed companies through a myriad holding entities, a look at some prominent companies and family-led businesses reveals that the women of the house are the largest ‘individual’ shareholders in the group’s listed firms. These leading ladies include Pia Singh (DLF), Sudha Gopalakrishnan (Infosys), Kokilaben Ambani (Reliance Group and Reliance ADAG), Vidya Subramanian (India Cements), Indu Punj (Punj Lloyd) and Rajashree Birla (Grasim).
Their individual holdings are in addition to their stake held through the group’s holding companies. These privately-held firms do not declare their shareholding pattern and the actual quantum of wealth of these women members of promoter families cannot be determined. But even their minuscule holdings in large listed firms make their net worth impressive.
ET left out of this reckoning companies directly run by women CEOs or promoters like Biocon where Kiran Mazumdar Shaw owns close to 40% of the biotech firm or Anu Aga who has now relinquished the top seat to her daughter Meher Pudumjee at Thermax. Men still walk a few steps ahead in holding cos
IFthe data in the public domain is considered, then Pia Singh, daughter of real estate king KP Singh of DLF, is the wealthiest. Her 2.27% stake is valued at Rs 2,314.26 crore, at the closing price of the scrip on Friday.
Next on the list is Sudha Gopalakrishnan, wife of S Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Bangalore-based Infosys. Her 2.15% stake in the country’s secondlargest software exporter is valued, even after a mauling in the stock market, at Rs 1,748.19 crore.
She ranks even ahead of Kokilaben Ambani, wife of Reliance Group founder Dhirubhai Ambani, who is the single-largest individual shareholder in almost all listed firms led by her two sons Mukesh and Anil. For instance, her 0.25% direct holding in Reliance Industries, the most valued publicly listed firm in the country, is valued at Rs 934.65 crore.
Her individual holdings in Reliance Capital, Reliance Communications, Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources, all led by her younger son Anil Ambani, are cumulatively valued at Rs 371.35 crore, making the total value of her holdings in these five firms Rs 1,306.1 crore.
Incidentally, she doesn’t have any direct personal holdings in the two recently-listed firms run by her two sons Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Power.
Indu Punj, mother of Atul Punj who heads engineering and construction major Punj Lloyd, owns exactly the same number of shares as her husband SNP Punj. Her direct holding, at 3.42% of the firm, is worth Rs 343 crore. This is marginally below that of Vidya Subramanian of Chennai-based India Cements, whose 7.08% stake in the cement maker is valued at Rs 364 crore. Similarly, Rajashree Birla is the largest individual stakeholder in both Aditya Birla Nuvo and Grasim Industries.
Says corporate law firm Titus & Co’s Diljeet Titus: “Women like DLF’s Pia Singh are the largest individual stakeholders because of succession planning. For other firms, tax planning could be behind giving the largest stake to the promoter’s wife or daughter.”
Some other mid-sized companies have seen some changes recently in shareholding in favour or against the women of the family. In case of Mirc Electronics, which owns the Onida brand of consumer durables, the sons of a co-promoter gifted their shares in the group holding company to their mother, Soni Mirchandani. She now owns one-third of the privately-held holding firm Guviso Holdings, which in turn holds 52.74% of Mirc Electronics.
Sabena Puri, daughter of Moser Baer chairman Deepak Puri, was, till December-end, the largest individual stakeholder in the firm with a 6.95% stake. A recent inter-se transfer among the promoters saw her transfer all her shares to her brother, Ratul Puri, who is also Moser Baer executive director.
However, in most groups, the real key lies in the holding entities which are, more often than not, led by the male members of the business group. In some groups like the Jindals, who own a string of steel companies, the reverse is true. Even as Savitri Jindal, group chairperson and widow of group founder OP Jindal, represents the group’s wealth in some global ranking of billionaires, her individual shareholding is smaller than that of her sons in their respective companies.
deepshikha.monga@timesgroup.com

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Microcredit raises hopes for widows in Vidarbha

Maharashtra: Savita Jiddewar is a rare success story on the cotton fields of central India, the epicentre of an agrarian crisis that has seen 150,000 farmers commit suicide since 1997 because they could not pay back loans.

Her home stands out strikingly in this small village of dirt lanes and pale blue brick houses. She has a television set, a DVD player and a comfortable sofa. A mobile phone rings intermittently and the aroma of cooking wafts from the kitchen.

Clearly, she is well off in a farming village where most people struggle to make ends meet and where at least four people have killed themselves unable to repay crop loans.

While her neighbours borrowed heavily, entangling themselves in a never-ending cycle of debts, Jiddewar, a widow whose husband and daughter died in a road accident, made her moves smartly.

She joined a microcredit programme last year, saving tiny amounts that she ploughed back into her cotton fields, and earning a life of relative comfort.

After the agrarian crisis broke out in the early 1990s when India began privatizing its economy, several voluntary organizations and banks in the region began microcredit schemes for women.

But women are only now joining in large numbers and the benefits are showing.

"Initially I wasn't sure what this is all about but then I saw other women who were doing well," Jiddewar said as she walked around her village, the air heavy with the smell of cow dung and animal feed.

Jiddewar then joined the Annapurna women's self-help group, one of around 60,000 such groups in the Vidarbha region.

Here, the microcredit model is benefiting some 500,000 women and widows of farmers.

A farmers' lobby in the area estimates there are about 20,000 widows in Vidarbha whose husbands committed suicide after crops failed and they could not pay moneylenders and banks.

The women form groups of 10 or 12 to start a business and approach a bank for tiny credits. The banks encourage the women to save with them, with each member depositing amounts starting from Rs40 every month.

The next loan to the group depends on how fast they repay the initial credit after making a saving.

There are a variety of banks offering microcredit and the women are careful not to choose the wrong option.

Jiddewar's group chose the one that gave them $2,500 (Rs1 lakh) for community farming. Within months of borrowing her group had managed to pay back half the amount. Now the group is considering setting up a stationery shop. Once left without hope after their sons and husbands died, many windows are picking up the pieces again.

"There was a time when we didn't know where the next meal was going to come from," said Mirabai Shyamrao Martawar, whose husband killed himself by jumping into a river after moneylenders pestered him for payment.

"Now I save Rs50 every month after providing for 10 members in the family."

The women are into a variety of businesses such as goat farming, community farming, running corner shops, bamboo handicrafts and glue making.

Without an income, life for these women and their children was a constant struggle for survival. Young widows were particularly vulnerable.

"This is a revolution," said Manoj Bhoir, whose voluntary group Village Development and Education Society facilitates microcredit for 650 self- help groups.

"These women are determined to repay not only the debts of their families but also provide a better life for their children."

In many cases widows were thrown out by their in-laws. Only a small number were given $2,500 in compensation by the government after proving their husbands committed suicide.

But there is criticism as well of the microcredit model in Vidarbha. Although defaults are almost nil, many women are repeat borrowers and have become dependent on loans for household expenditures rather than capital investments.

But for tens of thousands of women in Vidarbha, microcredit seems their best chance of breaking from a life of debt.

"In a group we are safe," said Martawar. "When one is in trouble the others will come forward to help."

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Education in Women under Islamic Law is the key to the success of society

If Female is well educated, she can take care her kids in a better way, and help them do their homework and if she knows driving as well, she can pickup and drop-off her kids. Females are after all Human beings and they may get sick, so some of them must be Good Doctors and Nurses. To teach Female Doctors and Nurses, some Females must be Good Teachers. In Brief you cannot have a well decent and educated society without educated Female. If Females are left behind then it will lead the society poor and backwards, what is happening in most parts of the world. If Women are left uneducated the whole race of Muslims may be left uneducated. Wherever Allah mentioned about education, it also includes Female as well. Female is the principal part in a family success. To ask Allah for education, "RABBEE – ZIDNEE – ILMAA" is for Female also. At least, if Females are well educated enough, they can do good Dawah, while men are busy in their work.

Aisha bint Abu Bakr as Siddiq, radiallahu anha, was one of the greatest transmitters of Sunnah. And she did it from behind a screen, in her home. She was a recognized expert in a number of fields. According to present time, we can say, she was holding several Ph.D. Degrees in many disciplines.

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