NEW YORK, Mar 26: Eleven influential Indian-American investors feature in Forbes magazine’s annual list of the 100 best venture capitalists with the “Midas” touch who are making big and early bets on the leading technology companies of tomorrow and earning outsized returns for their investors.
The Forbes 2015 Midas List represents the world’s 100 smartest technology investors with valuations greater than USD 1 billion and a total of 766 deals.
Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital maintained the number 1 spot for the second year in a row due to WhatsApp, the mobile messaging company acquired by Facebook for USD 22 billion.
He was the only institutional backer in the messaging service and “struck gold”, returning more than USD 3 billion to Sequoia in the deal, Forbes said.
Leading the Indian-Americans on the list is 49-year old Aneel Bhusri, CEO and Cofounder of Workday, a cloud-based financials and human resources software firm.
Stanford business school graduate Bhusri is ranked 17th on the list and has a net worth of USD 1.22 billion.
A notable exclusion from the list is Vinod Khosla, who founded Khosla Ventures in 2004. Khosla had been a regular on the Midas list till now, raking 63rd last year.
“A steady top 20 Midas lister,” Forbes said Bhusri is the only venture capitalist to have cofounded and taken a multi-billion dollar company public while also working as a venture capitalist.
On the 24th spot is Salil Deshpande, Managing Director of Bain Capital Ventures.
Deshpande, 46, has had two big exits in 2014 with technology company Dropcam that was sold to Google and the IPO of peer-to-peer lending company LendingClub, both early-stage bets made while at his prior firm Bay Partners.
Norwest Venture Partners Senior Managing Partner Promod Haque comes in at the 26th rank.
The 66-year old’s most notable deal has been cybersecurity company FireEye, which had the second-best performing IPO in the US in 2013. His investments in more than 60 companies have produced over USD 40 billion in exit values.
The other Indian-Americans on the list are Greylock partner Asheem Chandna (36), Accel partner Sameer Gandhi (37), Founding Partner at Wing Venture Partners Gaurav Garg (38), Managing Director of Mayfield Fund Navin Chaddha (42), Manging Director at Insight Venture Partners Deven Parekh (57), General Partner at Battery Ventures Neeraj Agrawal (58), Managing Director at Menlo Ventures Venky Ganesan (86) and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures Satish Dharmaraj (90). (PTI)
11 PIOs in Forbes’s list of best venture capitalists
Ford looks to triple exports from India in 5 years
SANAND (Gujarat) : American auto major Ford aims to triple exports from India over the next five years with its new USD 1 billion plant here becoming operational.
The plant, the company’s second in the country, which was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel here today, will also double its production capacity in India.
“With manufacturing facilities in Chennai and Sanand, we expect to triple our exports from India in the next five years,” Ford Motor President and CEO Mark Fields told reporters here.
At present, Ford India exports around 60,000 to 70,000 units annually to over 35 global markets from its Chennai-based facility.
With this new plant, the company is targeting a total of 50 export markets.
The Sanand plant, which has come up in an area of 460 acres, Fields said, will also double the company’s production capacity in India.
“The plant has an installed capacity of 2.4 lakh vehicles and 2.7 lakh engines annually. Ford India will now have a total installed capacity of rolling out 4.4 lakh vehicles and 6.1 lakh engines every year,” he added.
Elaborating on the new plant, Fields said the company would start manufacturing its new compact sedan Figo Aspire from the facility later this year.
Ford India President and Managing Director Nigel Harris said the plant is a major step for the company to become a major manufacturer of high quality small cars for local and global markets.
“The new plant will not only help us grow business in India but would also help to make India as an export hub,” he added.
Chief Minister Anandiben Patel said the new plant has given employment to over 4,000 people directly and another 2,000 from ancillary units around the facility.
Gujarat is becoming an automobile manufacturing hub with the likes of Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki setting up their plants in the state. (AGENCIES)
Mantalai to come up as International Yoga Centre: Mufti
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 25: Kick-starting his strategy to develop Jammu as an independent tourist destination, the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today announced creation of an International Yoga Centre at the famous pilgrim spot of Mantalai. He also said the Government will favourably consider a subsidized package for Jammu Region in the coming season to attract tourists to visit region’s leisure destinations.
The Chief Minister was speaking in a marathon interactive session during a J&K Tourism Conference, organized to conceptualize an out-of-box strategy to put Jammu on the leisure tourism map of the country. Tour and travel operators from all over the country as well as the State attended the three-hour-long session.
Entrusting the responsibility for optimally utilizing the intake capacity at various destinations in Jammu Region to the public and private stakeholders, the Chief Minister said the tourism sector is bound to play a multiplier effect on other sectors like handicrafts and services which will help in improving the economy of the State. He urged the private tour and travel operators to play an active role in changing public perception across the country about visiting Jammu & Kashmir as a safe tourist destination.
Describing Jammu as an ideal tourist location, whose potential has remained largely unexplored, the Chief Minister stated that Jammu has to be branded on the pattern of Kashmir so that the hidden nature spots in the region are brought in the forefront. “Mantalai will be promoted as a brand Yoga Centre which will have a cascading effect on the flow of tourists to the spot. “I am sure that once the Centre comes up, the flow of tourists to Mantalai will pick up,” hoped the Chief Minister who also called for packaging Baglihar Dam Catchment as a potential water-sports destination in the region.
Calling for an aggressive marketing campaign to mobilize leisure tourists from outside the State to places like Patnitop, Bhaderwah, Sanasar, Sudh Mahadev and Batote, the Chief Minister also called for developing Bani-Basohli-Bhaderwah-Jai as a Tourist Circuit to exploit the huge tourism potential of the area.
The Chief Minister also spoke at length about developing Suchetgarh as part of Border Tourism, on the analogy of Wagah Border. He also highlighted the potential of Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex and said the Complex will be a major attraction for heritage tourists coming to the region.
The Chief Minister laid stress on the need to develop high-end infrastructure by doing a pre-feasibility reconnaissance on laying of golf course at Sanasar, starting work on Patnitop Ropeway and establishment of eco-friendly amusement parks at various resorts to attract children and students.
Mufti Sayeed said he will take up the issue of expansion of Jammu Airport with the Union Civil Aviation Ministry. “Expansion of Jammu Airport is an important issue, which has been highlighted by a number of speakers as a major bottleneck to tourist inflow to Jammu. I will take it up immediately,” the Chief Minister said.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister urged the private stakeholders to invest their experience in promoting Jammu as an independent tourist destination.
Commissioner/Secretary Tourism, Shailendra Kumar, Director Tourism, Jammu, R K. Verma, MD JKTDC and Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad Shah, besides leading tour and travel operators from Gujarat, New Delhi and Maharashtra as well as those from the State attended the Conference.
Tata JLR announces mega 600mn pound investment in UK
LONDON: Tata Motors-owned luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover will invest 600 million pounds in the UK as part of its expansion plans, including doubling the size of its operations at its headquarters in Coventry.
The funds will be pumped into its R&D and manufacturing divisions across three JLR sites in the West Midlands region of England – Castle Bromwich Advanced Manufacturing Plant; Whitley Advanced Design and Development Centre; and the National Automotive Innovation Centre in Coventry.
The largest single investment has been made at the company’s Castle Bromwich plant, where over 400 million pounds will go into new and upgraded facilities to support the introduction of the all-new Jaguar XF model.
“This investment, made here in the heartland of our UK business operations, signals the confidence we have in this region to support the creation, engineering and manufacturing of ultra-low emission, premium British products, today and in the future,” said JLR CEO Ralf Speth.
Tata Group Emeritus Chairman, Ratan Tata, who was responsible for acquiring the struggling brands from Ford back in 2008, had recently told: “I am very proud and very appreciative of the leadership Ralf Speth has provided and the spirit of the workforce, who worked shoulder to shoulder to bring these two venerable brands back to their original glory. .. The future is quite bright.”
The latest expansion plans include a doubling in size of the company’s operations at its headquarters in Coventry.
JLR, which was bought by India’s Tata Motors for USD 2.3 billion from Ford in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis, said land bought in Whitley meant it could expand its base from 55 to nearly 120 acres.
It said the new investment was aimed at supporting the company’s creation of high tech and ultra-low emission vehicles. (AGENCIES)
Shailesh’s family does not suspect any foul play in his death
LUCKNOW : Family members of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav’s son Shailesh, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his father’s official residence here, today said they don’t suspect any foul play.
“It is a natural death. The matter will be clear when the final report comes. We don’t suspect any foul play,” Shailesh’s elder brother Kamlesh Yadav, who is an Uttar Pradesh Congress member, told reporters.
The family members said that they would not press for a probe.
Shailesh’s father and Madhya Pradesh Governor would be arriving here this afternoon.
“He (Sailesh) was under stress after his name figured in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board or Vyapam scam. This might be the reason behind his death as far as we think,” Shailesh’s friend and Congress leader Satyadeo Tripathi had said.
Police, however, remained tight lipped over the entire issue.
“We have got information that Shailesh Yadav, aged about 50, died at the official residence of MP Governor Ram Naresh Yadav at Mall Avenue locality here,” Gautampalli Police Station in-charge, Virendra Bahadur Singh told.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav visited Ram Naresh Yadav’s residence to convey his condolences.
Shailesh’s name had cropped up in the multi-crore scam for allegedly fixing the recruitment of 10 candidates as Grade-III teachers.
The Governor, who too has been named as an accused in the scam, had been admitted to a hospital in Bhopal following respiratory problems.
Yadav, a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, has challenged in the High Court the inclusion of his name as an accused and had sought immunity.
Earlier, an accused in the scam had alleged that Shailesh took money to help candidates.
In his statement to the Special Task Force (STF) probing the Professional Examination Board (PEB) scam, Veerpal Yadav had alleged that he handed over a list of 10 candidates and Rs three lakh to his friend Vijay Pal, who gave the money and names allegedly to Shailesh at Raj Bhawan.
The scam involves massive irregularities and corruption in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) or MP Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam). (AGENCIES)
Australia make 328/7 against India
SYDNEY : Electing to bat, Australia made 328/7 against India in the second semifinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup here today.
Brief Scores:
Australia: 328/7 in 50 overs (Steve Smith 105, Aaron Finch 81, Umesh Yadav 4/72). (AGENCIES)
Duminy to lead Daredevils in IPL
NEW DELHI : South Africa’s T-20 skipper JP Duminy will lead Delhi Daredevils in the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL), the franchise announced. Duminy, who recently became the first South African to claim a hat-trick in the ongoing World Cup against Sri Lanka was retained by the team.
“I am grateful for the support and belief from the franchisee. It’s an absolute privilege to lead such a talented mix of players. I am excited about the season ahead and sincerely hope, we will be able to turn around the fortunes of Delhi Daredevils in the upcoming IPL season,” Duminy said in a official statement. The head coach of the side Gary Kristen said, “JP (Duminy) is the right choice to lead the team for the upcoming season. He has the necessary experience and demeanour to take the team forward. I have seen him progress and mature as a player and leader through the years with the South African national team.”
(AGENCIES)
Countdown begins for IRNSS-ID launch tomorrow
CHENNAI : The 59-and-a-half hour countdown for the launch of the fourth navigation satellite IRNSS-1D by PSLV-C27 on March 28 began at 0549 hrs this morning at the Satish Dhawan Space Cenre at the India’s spaceport of Sriharikota, about 100 km here.
A release from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) here said after the Mission Readiness Review committee and the Launch Authorisation Board cleared the launch last evening, the 59 and half hour count-down started at 0549 hrs Thursday”. The launch would take place from the second Launch Pad on March 28 evening at 1719 hrs.
During the countdown, propellant filling operations would take place in the four-stage workshorse
launch vehicle of the ISRO.
“The Mono Methyl Hydrazine (MMH) propellant filling operation of fourth stage of PSLV-C27 has commenced”, the release said .
(AGENCIES)
WC: Aus win toss, elect to bat against India in SF
SYDNEY : Australia won the toss and have elected to bat first in the second semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) here today.
Both teams remain unchanged in the high-voltage clash, billed as the final before the final. The winner will face New Zealand in the final on Sunday.
Squads:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma Australia: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steven Smith, Michael Clarke (capt), Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, Brad Haddin (wk), James Faulkner, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood. (AGENCIES)
Omar wishes team India “best of luck”
JAMMU : Expressing hope that Indian cricket team would continue its winning streak, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has wished the team “best of luck” as the team take on Australia in the ICC World Cup semi- final today.
“I wish the team (India) best of luck for today’s game against Australia,” Omar Abdullah told reporters here today.
Omar said that team India had a good start in the match and he expressed hope that Indian team would win the match.
“Team India had a very good start in the game today, they have taken one wicket, I am hopeful they will win this match,” he said.
Omar said that team India would continue its winning streak by winning today’s match, “Team India has so far won all its matches in the tournament and I am hopeful that they continue to win all the games,” he said.
When asked who he feels would be the favorite player for the day he said, “This is a team game and all are favorite as the game will be won by the team effort.” (AGENCIES)