MUKUND    RAJAN

The Brand Custodian: My Years with the Tatas by Dr. Mukund Rajan ; Published by  Harper Business; Pages 225  ; Price Rs.599/-

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The author of the book under review is one of the “ Celebrated  Rajans”. Who are the Rajans? Let the author answer---“ We are four—three brothers and a sister. Between us, we have a bagful of academic qualifications—three doctorates, six master’s degrees, three masters’ of business administration( MBAs) and four bachelor’s  degrees. My Delhi-based sister, Jayashri straddles worlds as  far apart as nutrition and teaching French. My brother Raghuram is an engineer who has become one of the finest economists of his generation, teaching finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. And my Toledo-based brother working with First Solar, Shrinivas, was the best engineer amongst us three Indian Institute of Technology ( IT)  alumni brothers, going on to have a successful career in R & D. During our formative years, we kept changing schools and were exposed to different cultures and languages—across India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Belgium. From sarees to miniskirts and from Tamil to French, the exposure we had was very diverse !.”

Immediately upon completing his Doctorate ,  Mukund Rajan  joined the Tata group as  Executive Assistant of Ratan Tata. Over the next twenty-three years, as he worked closely with Ratan Tata, he got an inside view of the ups and downs, the controversies and achievements of the Tata group.

Rajan  became  the   Managing Director of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd,  and Brand Custodian of the Tata group.

In this book, his memoirs, he talks of what really went on during those turbulent times and how the Tatas pulled through each of these situations. He also offers a fascinating close portrait of the enigmatic Ratan Tata. The Brand Custodian is a study of the Tata group's evolution and explains the relevance of the conglomerate to the world we live in.

 Dr. Mukund Rajan, 49, is a corporate strategist, liberal thinker, and entrepreneur. He held a number of senior executive positions  with the Tata group, including Chief Ethics Officer of the Tata group, head of the foreign offices of Tata Sons, Chair of the Tata Global Sustainability Council, Member of the Group Executive Council at Tata Sons, Head of Private Equity at Tata Capital, and Managing Director of one of the group's listed telecom businesses. The World Economic Forum honoured Dr. Rajan  in 2007 as a Young Global Leader.

Dr. Rajan graduated from the Bachelor of Technology program at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1989. He received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University, where he completed a Masters and Doctorate in International Relations. His doctoral dissertation titled "Global Environmental Politics - India and the North-South Politics of Global Environmental Issues" was published by Oxford University Press in 1996.

 Tata group’s turnover increased  in ten years from $10 billion to over $100 billion during Ratan Tata’s chairmanship. Currently, the top four companies alone are valued at over $111 billion. The Tata Trusts include the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust—which together have funded some of India’s most respected institutions in sectors such as education, healthcare, arts and culture. These include IIISc in Bengaluru, the TISS,TIFR,the Tata Memorial Hospital and the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai. These Trusts are dedicated to giving away wealth gathered in their hands for public good and to support deserving social causes.

The book  takes us inside the workings of this giant conglomerate  with over a hundred operating companies ranging from salt to steel and from tea to timepieces—and how that success story was crafted.

‘This book was written shortly after I left the Tatas. I wanted to capture my thoughts before age and memory started playing tricks with my recollections! It is essentially a contemporary history of the Tata group through the lens of my own career, during which I worked in proximity to Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry. It covers key episodes of the past three decades while offering observations about the challenges the group will face in the future. It will be of interest for students, business-school faculty, corporate governance experts and, indeed, anybody wanting to learn more about the Tatas,’  Rajan  covers key episodes including his love-hate relationship with the media, 2G controversies, and on how a boss should know when to hang up his boots.

 Rajan witnessed first-hand how Ratan Tata had to contend with the so-called satraps, leaders of large businesses within the group whose loyalties lay with J.R.D.Tata and who were not always very welcoming towards a new boss a couple of decades younger than themselves. He describes how Ratan Tata dealt with them and then took various measures to consolidate the different businesses; how he created a brand identity for the group and gave it high visibility; how he formed a centralised group structure and documented the values and business philosophy of the Tatas in the Tata Code of Conduct; his move towards internationalisation with the acquisition of companies such as Corus, Tetley and Jaguar Land Rover; and other steps that have made Tata the brand it is today. After 2007, when Tatas acquired JLR and Corus, Ratan Tata’s stature became even bigger. He was no longer just an Indian corporate leader, but regarded by the world as an international business leader and statesman. Besides, some of the innovative stuff that was happening simultaneously like developing the Nano added to the aura.

According to Rajan when  when Ratan Tata first became Chairman, he was surrounded by the so-called satraps — people like Darbari Seth, Nani Palkhiwala, AH Tobaccowala, FC Kohli and for a while Russi Modi. These were all stalwarts who enjoyed JRD Tata’s confidence and had proven themselves as business leaders. In fact, Ratan Tata was the youngest of them all. Over a period of time, after the satraps exited or were pensioned off as per the new retirement policy, he became the unquestioned Supremo. Those subsequently appointed to the board of Tata Sons turned out to be people who had earlier reported to him or were hired as his direct reports, such as Krishna Kumar, Ishaat Hussain, Gopalakrishnan, etc.

Mukund Rajan has not neglected to include  the controversies the group has been involved in, such as the one regarding the Tatas’ alleged dealings with ULFA, the maverick managers who didn’t play by the rules, the Niira Radia tapes and the conflict between Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry, and what transpired thereafter.

A bit of his own story is given ---his  progress within the group—from executive assistant to a director on the boards of VSNL and TTSL; from managing director of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd to founding managing partner of the Tata Opportunities Fund; from becoming the first brand custodian to his last role as chief ethics officer.

Rajan, who was caught in the crossfire in a 2016 feud between Ratan Tata and Tata’s successor Cyrus Mistry, has written about the battle that culminated in  Mistry being eased out of  the Chairmanship  of the holding company, Tata Sons.

Rajan recounts the tragic story of Dilip Pendse and  Tata Finance eventually culminating in his suicide.Tata Finance was shut down. We have cameo portraits of C.Sivasankaran –the South Indian Ambani and the games played by Niira Radia.

Mukund Rajan had become the Managing Director and C.E.O of TTML and the first Brand Custodian of Tata entailing responsibility for the Tata corporate brand owned by Tata Sons and oversight of corporate communications at the Tata Group

Mukund Rajan  is currently working in telecommunications, on a multi-brand auto retail platform, and on environmental sustainability.

 Rajan  writes , “It is lonely at the top” — especially if you are head and shoulders above the others in terms of stature, and maybe you don’t always get the right advice and have the right people speaking up. At some point, I think, Ratan Tata might have reason to feel he has been let down by some of his advisors.

The Group had problems with Media—which  started with the leaked transcripts of tapes that sections of the media carried in the context of the Tata Tea-ULFA episode in Assam .

Rajan writes with pain on the  tragic spat between Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry .Both had the same kind of ambition, the same vision, and the same concerns around protecting the brand.

This book is an eye-opener on the House that Tata built which his successors nourished from strength to strength and at times behaved like “mere mortals”—haughty, petty and peevish.

P.P.Ramachandran.

24/03/2019.

RAGHURAM  RAJAN

The Third Pillar by Dr.Raghuram Rajan ; Published by Penguin ; Pages 433 ; Price Rs.799/-

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Dr.Raghuram Rajan  is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India between 2013 and 2016. He served as Vice‐Chairman of the Board of the Bank for International Settlements between 2015 and 2016. Dr. Rajan was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund from 2003 to 2006. He was the President of the American Finance Association in 2011 and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Group of Thirty. In 2003, the American Finance Association awarded him the inaugural Fischer Black Prize for the best finance researcher under the age of 40. The other awards he has received include the Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics in 2013, Euromoney magazine's Central Banker of the Year Award 2014 and The Banker magazine's Global Central Banker of the Year award in 2016. In that year, Time magazine chose Dr. Rajan as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Dr. Rajan is the co‐author with Luigi Zingales of Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists  and the author of Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, for which he was awarded the Financial Times Goldman Sachs prize for best business book in 2010.

 Rajan has an unparalleled vantage point onto the social and economic consequences of globalization and their ultimate effect on our politics. The book is about the three pillars  that support society and how  we get to the right balance  between them  so that society prospers. Two of the pillars are the State and the Markets. It is the third sector the Community  and the social aspects of Society that Rajan concentrates on. When any of the three pillars weakens or strengthens significantly, typically as a result of technological progress  or terrible economic adversity like a depression, the balance is  upset and society has to  find a new equilibrium. The central question addressed in the book is how we restore the balance between the pillars in the face of ongoing disruptive technological and social change.

 Economists comprehend their domain as  the relationship between markets and the state, and they consign  social issues to other people. This according to  Rajan is fraught with danger. All economics is actually socio-economics – Markets are embroiled  in a mesh of human relations, values and norms. Throughout  history,  shifts in technology have forcefully brought the market out of these constraints resulting in  violent backlashes and   populism. Finally,  a fresh equilibrium is arrived at but with the possibility of  the situation turning ugly and messy, especially if wrong methods are employed.

Rajan describes the present status--- how  we are  doing it wrong. As markets scale up, the state scales up with it, concentrating economic and political power in flourishing central hubs and leaving the periphery to decompose, figuratively and factually.  Rajan's panacea  is to rework  the link  between  market and civil society. He argues  for a return to strengthening and empowering local communities as an antidote to growing despair and unrest. His  clinching  is that decision-making has to be entrusted to the grass roots. Otherwise  there is a fear  of democracy  withering.

 "The Third Pillar" is a quintessence  of clear thought  that is at once  a wise, authoritative and a humane explanation of the forces that have wrought such a sea change in our lives and an attempt to retrieve our position. Rajan proposes a re-balancing to be brought about by decentralised politics, diverse immigration, and other measures that, though controversial, certainly merit discussion.

The Third Pillar is the community, which Rajan makes central to the book. It is a neglected pillar, and the renowned economist traces many of the economic and political concerns across the world today, as well as the rise of populist nationalism leading to the diminution of the community. The state and the markets—the other two pillars—have expanded their powers and work  in tandem and this has left the community relatively powerless, he argues.

“The Third Pillar” is a must read for everyone seeking a way to preserve democracy as we  know it.  The opening chapters of the book  sparkle with concrete illustrations of how vibrant local communities contribute to human flourishing in ways typically overlooked. As a former central banker, Rajan gives special attention to the community’s role in financial markets and goes so far as to defend long-ago prohibitions on usury. Neighbours helping neighbours represents a form of saving, creating a reciprocal obligation to be repaid when the tables inevitably turn. Small, young firms tend to get more and better loans when fewer banks are present, perhaps because less competition means a higher likelihood of retaining a firm’s business as it grows. This leads to a crucial, more generalisable point: “Relationships seem to be stronger when the members of the community have fewer alternatives, for it gives the members confidence that they will stay mutually committed.” The modern market’s greater abundance of choice is not without trade-offs. While ably describing how both a growing market and a growing state have eroded the community’s relevance and vitality over time, Rajan gradually redefines the Third Pillar from “communities whose members live in proximity” to merely democracy or the “voting public.” An intrinsically valuable and varied local institution congeals into a homogeneous tool for ensuring that the market and state behave.

Rajan’s  aim seems to  move “toward one borderless world,” with stronger communities working as a perhaps helpful means to that end. “A central concern in this book is about the passions that are unleashed when an imagined community like the nation fulfills the need for belonging that the neighbourhood can no longer meet.”
Rajan impressively builds the foundation for his view of society in a fleet history of economic development that tracks the development of mostly Western economies from the earliest prohibitions on usury to the development of the 20th-century Progressive movement. The historic survey and analysis are the strengths of Rajan’s work. He makes a strident call for a dramatic rethinking of educational systems and the decentralising of governmental power.  Though Rajan’s writing can stray into the academic, it is at times pithy (“Democracy preserved market competition, and market competition preserved democracy”), and he makes complex economic principles more accessible in brief .
Rajan writes that wrong choices could derail human economic progress at this critical moment in history. He sees that economic progress and a humanity that has “never been richer”, is worried to death, literally.   Rajan's book says that the “primary source of worry seems to be that moderately educated workers are rapidly losing or at the risk of losing, good 'middle class' employment, and this has grievous effects on them, their families and the communities they live in.”

It is difficult to disagree with the judgment of the IMF Economist  Kenneth Rogoff---“The book is a remarkably original and insightful take on the evolution, foundations and future of capitalism..a landmark treatise of profound depth”.

P.P.Ramachandran.

17/03/2019.

SHANTI  BHUSHAN


My Second Innings  by Shanti Bhushan;  Published by Rupa ; Pages 208 ; PrIce Rs. 595/-                                                   *************************************************************************
Shanti Bhushan the author of the book under review is a leading advocate in our Supreme Court and was Minister of Law and Justice in the Morarji Desai   government. We had reviewed his earlier book  "Courting Destiny".  Bhushan  has come up with his second book ‘My Second Innings’, talking about the events which happened after his first memoir was published.

In this book,  the author discusses his political views, country’s law and order, personal experiences, and his life in general. It was satisfying to read his prospect towards the cases mentioned in the book and how he put forth his strong views against corruption in the Judiciary and in public notwithstanding his growing age. Bhushan's new book  is a robust mix of some earlier memories from his  family’s ancestral home  in Allahabad - next in size only to Motilal Nehru’s ‘Anand Bhavan’ - to incisive, ringside view of the judiciary itself.   Bhushan has shown how a simple, effective and clear use of language, backed by cogent, sturdy arguments brings out the underlying drama and pathos of law, justice and life at large, which in effect makes this memoir also a document for students of Law and Humanities.
According to Bhushan "Of the last sixteen Chief Justices of India, half were corrupt and two of them had told that while they were in office their immediate predecessor and immediate successor were corrupt judges".Harsh indictment,indeed.

Shanti Bhushan writes on the supersession of three judges in the appointment as Chief Justice of India of Justice A.N.Ray following the Allahabad High Court judgement.He calls for the appointment of a full time National Judicial Commission which will search for the keenest legal minds all over the country

Here  are some  big cases he has been involved with as a lawyer, for example the  Lalu Yadav corruption case. He deals with some crucial issues within the higher judiciary itself including appointment of judges;  as also  his full involvement in both phases of the ‘Anna Andolan’ , his role in formulating the first draft of  the ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’ taking shape at the India International Centre in Delhi, emergence of the former Army man and Gandhian Anna Hazare as an anti-corruption crusader  and the dramatic developments  from Jantar Mantar  to Ram Lila Maidan in Delhi, leading to the final passage of the ‘Lokpal’ Bill by the Manmohan Singh government.

The author’s “inside story” also takes pot-shots at some of the top guns then in the UPA government when the government’s Lokpal Bill was drafted.  Scams are covered at considerable length.

The ‘Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’, as the political wing of the ‘Anna Andolan’, gave rise to new hopes, but subsequent attitudinal changes in  Kejriwal came as a big blow to AAP. This development disillusioned Shanti Bhushan as he has been “fighting all my life” for clean and transparent governance at all levels. Bhushan who had a bitter fallout with Kejriwal, resulting in his exit from the party, says he made a grievous mistake in judging the character of the AAP convenor. According to him, Kejriwal is intelligent and sharp, and most importantly, understands the public mind, and he had in the beginning felt that he was a selfless person devoted to good causes.

"I must admit that I made a grievous mistake in judging the true charaacter of Kejriwal in the years 2011  to early 2015.It has now become clear that although he has some qualities,he lacks integrity.It is also now clear that neither did he believe in the founding principles of AAP  nor in the  transformational aims it envisaged.In plain English--Kejriwal betrayed all the core principles of AAP" .

An important chapter is of the  “Undelivered Letter " which resulted  in the declaration of Emergency in India in June 1975. Bhushan, who had argued against Gandhi in the Allahabad High Court in the case for the setting aside of her election in 1975, writes that a wrong advice given to the former PM by her counsel S.C. Khare led to the Emergency.

The wrong counsel given by lawyer Khare, according to Bhushan, was that Gandhi should stand in the witness box. Khare had felt that if such a powerful prime minister decided to appear before a junior judge of the high court, he would be so overwhelmed by her presence that he would not have had the courage to decide the case against her. However, it was a case of misjudging Justice Sinha, who stood up to the pressure and set aside Gandhi's election, which ultimately led to the imposition of Emergency. Bhushan reveals that Gandhi's previous lawyer, the eminent advocate Kanhaiya Lal Misra, who had to step back because of failing health, had upon learning that she planned to appear in the witness box, written a letter to her asking her not to do so. He had sent the letter, on the morning of her court appearance, through his youngest son, but he was not allowed to meet her and the letter remained undelivered. “He had written to her not to make the mistake of appearing in the witness box and that even at this eleventh hour she should make some excuse for not appearing,”

Shanti Bhushan’s interactions with prominent leaders including J Jayalalithaa - he appeared for her to win the AIADMK office property case in Supreme Court though he later declined to appear in the corruption case against her - are pure delight.

Shanti Bhushan devotes one full chapter to the iconic Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer,which is truly touching. "He almost single-handedly transformed the Indian Jurisprudence and interpreted the Constitution to advance the case of the poor and deprived sections of the Society.He was a great thinker, an eminent scholar,a very hard-working person and more importantly a person whose heart kept beating for the cause of the downtrodden".
No better tribute can be paid to Justice Krishna Iyer.

 This is an impressive book which captures the flavour of court-room,the drama, the evolution of Indian judiciary.

P.P.Ramachandran
10/03/2019.

SHYAM SUNDER

Contemporary Reforms of Labour Markets and Industrial  Relations System in India --Edited by K.R.Shyam Sunder ; Published by Academic Foundation ; Pages  379 ;Price Rs.1495/-

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The book under review is a festschrift  to Prof.Lalit Deshpande, one of the  foremost development and labour economists of India, who retired from the Department of Economics of the Bombay University. Deshpande contributed enormously to the labour market studies and produced the first comprehensive study of labour market flexibility.

The Editor of the volume, Dr.K.R.Shyam Sunder is an acknowledged research scholar on labour institutions and industrial relations. He is currently Professor in Xavier Institute of Management in Jamshedpur. He is the author of 11 books and has to his credit over 50 articles. TheILO  has published five of his projects.

 Since the introduction of economic  reforms by Manmohan Singh, there has been an insistent  demand from  employers, the central and the state governments to usher in labour law and governance reforms . Understandably , trade unions have been opposing them. The reform of labour laws has gained momentum since the assumption of power by BJP-led NDA government at the Centre in May 2014. A few  state governments like Rajasthan carried out significant reforms of the labour laws. The NDA government has taken a big stride in the reform initiative by rationalising numerous labour laws into four codes on wages, industrial relations, social security and safety and working conditions.  These Codes underscore meaningful reforms at once  ensuring flexibility for employers and benefits for workers. These  reforms have far reaching implications. In view of this there  is an imperative  need for a comprehensive introduction to and analysis of these reform measures in a single volume. 

This volume, in honour of Prof L.K. Deshpande, provides rich insights into the contemporary labour law reform debates in a comprehensive manner. It contains articles chiefly  from stakeholders in the industrial relations system, viz. representatives of trade unions and employers, business consultants, and government officials in addition to a few academicians. The writers offer  rich and varied perspectives, backed by their long-standing on-field experience, on the changes in and the proposed reforms to labour laws and policies. This volume is  fills a great  void in the literature on the ongoing debate. It is undoubtedly  a major contribution to enabling an understanding of the ongoing labour law and governance reforms and their possible impacts on the ease of doing business and also on workers’ rights.   

  There are 14 contributors to this book, apart from the Editor. The contributors are drawn from different backgrounds which include trade unions, employers’ organisations, researchers, labour administrators, legal experts, etc,

The Essays provide critical, diverse often radically divergent viewpoints and offer us a historic perspective on the debate on contemporary public policy on labour and industry.

The first four essays are by the Editor. The introductory chapter discussed the legal and institutional framework Government  the “Industrial Relations System”. The next chapter maps out the various reforms/ initiatives and proposals  taken by different governments at the Centre and the dynamics thereof. The federal strategy and the reforms introduced at the State level are discussed in depth and it is argued that action taken at all levels indicate that these processes have reinforced informality in the labour market.

Former Secretary of the Labour  Ministry, L.Mishra, distinguishes between “reforms in labour laws” and “reform of labour”. He has analysed the rationale of labour regulation and cautions against “casual actions” in the name of reforms.  

Michael  Dias,who is both an advocate and employers’ representative poses some of the  toughest questions. He cites instances where employers have been penalised for the slightest aberrations. According to him the economic reform agenda of the Government will not help those in the unorganised sector but keep the already powerful organised sector workers. He fears that laws will drive employers to go for robotisation, artificial intelligence which will mechanise work and destroy jobs.

Saji Narayanan meticulously details the kind of attacks on labour rights. He sees many good aspects of Social Security Draft Code. Wage and Social Security Codes are pro-worker legislation which if properly implemented will herald revolutionary times for workers.

The opposite view is held by CITU leader Tapan Sen. He asks searching  questions about every reform measure. He fears corporate service government, an indulgent and errant enforcement machine, feudal landlords out to vanquish the working  classes.

Manish Sabharwal  and Sonal Arora of “Teamline”, one of the largest temp staffing companies in India cite impressive statistics to drive home the point that Contract Labour Act needs reforms to enable big and good players to operate efficiently so that win-win labour market situation will prevail.

This argument is countered by.V.K.Hattanagi who argues that not withstanding all the labour laws and the existence of enforcement machinery supported by general administrative set up and judiciary, an ordinary worker will  have to wait for a long time even to secure his/her unpaid and legal and contracted wage. Most of the contract workers are not organised and are not part of unions of regular workers.

While the economy prospers both workers and employers should prosper and this is what industrial relations is about.

The book provides a rich insight into the contemporary labour law reform and the economic and political changes taking place in India.

The book is compulsory reading for all persons interested in labour markets, law reforms, institutions and development.

P.P.Ramachandran

24/02/2019.

RAVI  SUBRAMANIAN

Don’t Tell The Governor by  Ravi Subramanian; Published by  HarperCollins ; Pages 312 ;  Price: Rs 299/-

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The author of the book under review Ravi Subramanian  is a banker who  has written  thrillers  about banking and bankers, which include three prize winning books. A trilogy--   The Incredible Banker, The Bankster  and Bankerupt.  Subramanian,a product of IIM,Bengaluru had a distinguished career in the   financial services  sector industry and was part of  Citibank, HSBC and ANZ Grindlays.  Presently he is the  CEO  of Shriram Union Finance Ltd., a non-banking finance company . He also contributes to the pink papers. His ambition is to be  “India’s John Grisham”—that he undoubtedly is. The book under review is his Tenth book in as many years..

The story begins with the appointment of a new RBI Governor, Aditya Kesavan, a tenured professor of economics at the prestigious New York University and a best selling author. He is handpicked by the Prime Minister of India himself – in the hope that the outsider would be easier to “influence” unlike the previous one who had proved to be quite troublesome for the government.

The story goes ahead as the Governor gets mixed up with a beautiful actress, who is married to another man but falls for his handsomeness.

We have a true masala which races fast –with hurricane speed,in the  world of power, politics and lobbying,  matched by glamour and blitz. It is a faithful recount of   many  events that dominated the India press. To wit---- demonetization, IPL and match fixing, terrorism and fake currency, the surgical strike against Pakistan, Indian public sector banks and their bad loans, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi, and a whole lot more.  Ravi is a clever and suave operator. Note the choice of names !

The prose is absolutely simply , with a splash of complicated financial lexicon explained minimally for the layman to understand, and sufficiently awaken the reader’s interest.  Ravi’s   ability to present a thriller is uncanny. He makes abundantly clear how power operates .

 With multiple plots thrown in the tale , people may get confused but the brilliant aspect of this book is the element of action and how the author has tied up all the events and stories in this book in the end. The storyline is riveting, with twist after twist, turn after turn….betrayal, secrets, lies. It has everything to make the book unputdownable.

Extraordinary is the  interesting insights into the working of banks. Some of the characters in this book are inspired from the prominent personalities. And also major events are reflections of recent  events .

What is the best part of the author’s book is the attention to details and the way Ravi depicts events in a manner that places  the reader bang  in the middle of the action.

 Ravi   sets his story against the backdrop of the financial services industry,  the relations between the RBI and the finance ministry .

Some extracts—

"On November 8, 2016, when the clocks strike 12, your money will be no good. Somewhere on the India-Nepal Border, a car full of passengers swerves off a highway and plunges into a valley, its trunk full of cash," "In the UK, a Bollywood starlet wins Big Survivor, the most popular reality TV show in the country. In Panama, Central America, a whistle-blower at a law firm brings down billionaires across the globe. And in India, a new RBI Governor is appointed," .

The new Governor is Aditya Kesavan who has been given the task of making sure he does not rock the boat.

"The book refers to real places and real titles of people who operate in these places and in and the government and law-enforcement agencies. These have been used to lend an air of authenticity to the story, just as in a fictitious story about the Pope or the prime minister of the nation or the president of the United States of America," says Subramanian.

"The battle for one-upmanship between the RBI and the Finance Ministry continues. The bureaucrats of the ministry want the RBI to be subservient to them, whereas the RBI wants to stay autonomous.

"The pendulum swings wildly in this relationship, with the RBI trying to break free from the government stranglehold. Last heard, the balance of power was clearly tilted in the favour of the central government,"

Covered clearly is  the correlation and discord between the  Government and the R B I . It entwines the issues of Demonetisation, use of illicit currency, IPL and match-fixing, Terrorism, Bollywood and politics, which are quite current happened.

Aditya Kesavan  the new Governor of the RBI  lacks a strategic mind and thus decision-making skills. It was unsettling to identify him as a person easily falling in love and trap, thus performing his duties as Governor in an impetuous manner. The book presents the complete real scenario of economic news of the past few years.

 It is gripping and indeed compelling. Ravi  won for three years in a row The Crossword Book Award. He also bagged the Indiaplaza Golden Quill Book Award. An appetising read,indeed.

P.P.Ramachandran.

3/02/2019.