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THE TRANSFORMATION OF NAVEEN JINDAL/ Pg.56 RNI R eg No MAH ENG / 2009/ 28102 Price Rs 110 November 29, 2013 forbes india the Volume issue 25 micromax grows up world’s most powerful People Pg.72 november 29, 2013 Once a scrappy challenger, the company Rahul Sharma co-founded is now aiming to dislodge Samsung as India’s top smartphone maker THE RISE OF MI C ROMA X www.forbesindia.com Business Minus the paperwork You live on the go, travelling light You want things now, not when the courier gets there You’re connected, 24/7, and you want your reading at your fingertips Welcome to the I NDIA Tablet Edition In Association With L e t t e r f ro m t h e E ditor - i n - C h i e f The Market for Good Enough T he purpose of business is to create a customer and keep him, said Peter Drucker In India, finding customers has been less of a problem than keeping them One reason is the sheer size of the total market and its varied demographics, which makes it easier for eagle-eyed entrepreneurs to spot untenanted niches or even a motherlode of mass unmet demand From Karsanbhai Patel’s Nirma to Asian Paints’ mini-cans of paint for rural India to the Re Velvette shampoo sachet, Indian entrepreneurs have found mass markets that were eminently addressable with a little bit of price cunning and distributive chutzpah These and many other success stories were not the result of great product or technological innovation, but an acute insight into what loads of customers wanted: A good enough product at a great or accessible price The operative phrase is “good enough” This, in short, may be the story so far of Micromax, which has emerged from nowhere to become No in the Indian smartphones market Its competitors dispute this, but their silence on Micromax also suggests that they have begun taking this upstart seriously Seriously enough to not dignify it as an equal This is not to suggest Micromax is the cat’s whiskers in smartphones It is one thing to pump up volumes based on smart pricing, and cheaper and commoditised components, quite another to become a real contender for the top slot based on service quality and innovative technology It is easy to find a customer, but tougher to keep her if you are not improving your game all the time The customer is not a fixed target, but a moving one with constantly evolving tastes and rising sophistication This is the chasm between early success and long-term reality that Micromax has to bridge Read Rohin Dharmakumar’s fascinating story on Micromax to find out how it is coping with this challenge Facing a different kind of perceptional challenge is politicianbusinessman Naveen Jindal An ambitious Congressman, Jindal’s JSPL is embroiled in controversy and scandal, especially in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s scathing report on coal block allocations, of which Jindal was a major beneficiary But Jindal is a fighter, and he believes that this too shall pass He is sure he will play a bigger role in politics, even while running a big business In a nation where the nexus between politics and business is only now beginning to be exposed, Jindal faces twice the risk, as he is both businessman and politician Prince Mathews Thomas takes a close look at how Jindal is going to let his two passions coexist without conflict Read on The customer is not a fixed target, but a moving one with constantly evolving tastes Best, R Jagannathan Editor-in-Chief, Forbes India r.jagannathan@network18online.com @TheJaggi november 29, 2013 | forbes india | 5 Contents Volu me | Issue 25 | November 29, 013 26 72 The List The 72 most powerful people on the planet 80 A Tale of Two Countries How India’s and China’s richest stack up against each other Enterprise 20 Zero Pesticide? You Must Be Kidding! FirstAgro, near Bangalore, promises produce without pesticides 36 The Shetty School of Thought Mahesh Tutorials standardised teaching methods, and is now looking to expand digitally Corporate Account 50 What’s Cooking in the Prestige Kitchen? Ideas TTK Group fought competition with innovation and customer relationships 62 The smart phone maker: Rahul Sharma From left: Amit Verma; Michael Prince for Forbes Upfront for the homegrown handsetmaker? Column 18 Story Power: The Hero’s Journey World’s Most Powerful People 62 Michael Bloomberg: The Exit Interview Business should adapt the eternally appealing plotline to tell stories Features Cover Story 26 Pretender No More Micromax succeeded by addressing gaps in the market What lies next 6 forbes india | november 29, 2013 | Will his power and influence grow once his term as NYC mayor ends? 66 Mexican Revolutionary President Peña Nieto is set to overturn the country’s notoriously closed policy on oil What lies beyond: Michael Bloomberg 50 Building steam: TT Jagannathan 84 Dual mode: Naveen Jindal 56 56 Naveen and the New Normal Before becoming a full-time public servant, Jindal has to fix his company Cross Border 25 Insider Trading For Talent LinkedIn uses its own database to hire smart Here are some tips Recliner 84 The Billionaires’ Curator Joan Behnke educates her super wealthy clients, before redesigning their homes Cheat Sheet 92 Alternative Currencies The ones that preceded the Bitcoin 93 Tip-Off & F-Index 90 87 Marketing to Your Nose Scents and fragrances are being used to build brand experiences Appraisal 89 Phone: The LG G2 is Impressive LG gets the premium feel right, and takes on competitors spec for spec 42 How General Motors Was Really Saved The plan to rescue GM was hatched within it, not by the Obama administration Regulars 10 Letters 11 Check-in 17 World Watch 94 Thoughts Nuggets 90 Home Décor A golden tea cabinet, a centre table and a made-to-measure refrigerator Subscriber Service: To subscribe, change address or enquire about other customer services, please contact: FORBES INDIA, Subscription Cell, C/o Digital 18 Media Ltd, Empire Complex, 414, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013 Tel: 91-22-40019873 / 4001 9874 Fax- 022-24910804 (Mon – Friday: 10 am - pm) SMS FORBES to 51818 Email: subscribe@forbesindiamagazine.com, To subscribe, visit www.forbesindia.com/subscription/ To advertise, visit www.forbesindia.com/advertise/ We value your feedback Write to us at: forbes.india@network18online.com Letters may be edited for brevity Read us online at www.forbesindia.com Cover Photograph by Amit Verma November 29, 2013 | forbes india | 7 Jagannathan: Mallikarjun Katakol for Forbes India; Jindal: Dileep Prakash for Forbes India; Behnke: Ethan Pines for Forbes Life More than just designs: Joan Behnke www.forbesindia.com Magazine Upfront Features Life I NDIA Daily Sabbatical Multimedia Blogs News Lists http://forbesindia.com/blog/ M ust-R ea d Blogs Bellandur Lake http://www.youtube.com/forbesindia you t u be channel Debate A Call to Action on Water! Mohandas Pai vs Harsh Mariwala on where to invest The recent flooding of Bangalore lakes is due to the lack of understanding and abuse of the water cycle The Gamification of Education The very concept of schooling is like playing a game Here’s how we learn from the games we play Tune in to youtube.com/forbesindia to watch the full video of Forbes India Leadership Awards 2013 Is It Diwali Time For India’s Beleaguered Telcos? A merged entity could now be permitted to hold up to 50 percent share of subscribers in any telecom circle That’s far higher than what national competition authorities normally allow in any market How Many Poultry Farmers Do 1.2 Bln People Need? — Part I Urbanisation and industrialisation continue to reshape the world’s economic order, creating a global consuming class http://forbesindia.com/multimedia/audio/1 Forbes India Now Available on iPad Download the Forbes India App Podcasts MICROMAX GROWS UP By Rohin Dharmakumar Click Here http://forbesindia.com/thedailysabbatical/ Daily Sa bbatica l Innovation Requires More Than Systems and Tools Broad-based engagement in innovation has to be carefully nurtured and actively monitored Status: When And Why It Matters Status plays a key role in everything from the things we buy to the partnerships we make Professor Daniel Malter of Harvard Business School explores when status matters most 8 forbes india | novemer 29, 2013 | The Economist: Thriving in the Age of Digital Media With the advent of digital media, traditional print media publishers have struggled to survive The Economist, however, has bucked this trend and evolved to thrive on both print and digital media platforms In this interview with Andrew Rashbass, former CEO of The Economist, we learn how the publication has come out stronger despite the disruption in print media The 100 richest indians By Prince Mathews Thomas Click Here Founder & Editor, Network18: Raghav Bahl Group CEO, Network 18 & Publisher, Forbes India: President & Editorial Director, TV18: B Sai Kumar Editor-in-Chief: R Jagannathan Director Operations, Network18 & COO IBN Lokmat: Sanjay Sharma Operations Director & CTO Broadcast: Piyush Gupta Ajay Chacko Senthil Chengalvarayan Group COO, Network 18: Managing Editor: Sourav Majumdar CEO, Forbes India: Gurmeet Singh Forbes media llc Chairman & Editor-in-Chief: Design Director: Anjan Das Director-Online & Events: Advertising Sales Senior Vice Presidents: President & CEO: Mike Perlis Chief Product Officer: Headline to come here Deepak Ajwani Editor (Features & Special Projects): Abhilasha Khaitan Editor (ForbesLife India & Social Media): Peter Griffin Senior Editor: Seema Singh Senior Associate Editor: Cuckoo Paul Consulting Editor: Sumana Mukherjee Editor (Markets And Finance): Pravin Palande Editor (Telecom, Media and Entertainment): Rohin Dharmakumar Senior Assistant Editor: Steve Forbes Vishal Srivastava Maulik Thakkar, Kumar P, Manavdeep Singh, S Shivakumar, Fardeen Sayeed, Niraj Ladia, Nitya Sharma, Atishay Singh, Jaskaran Gulati, Preetika Mehta, Mansi Shah, Rashmi Nath, Vibhor Nigam, Prashant Shirke & Kumar Kamble Lewis D Vorkin CEO / Asia: William Adamopoulos Editor, Forbes Asia: Tim Ferguson EVENTS Events Head : Alpana Gulati Shriram Narayanmurthy, Girish Sharma, Sajjan Sharma Distribution Forbes India Team Distribution Head: Sunil Nair Gopal Srinivasan, chairman and Sanjay managing director of TVS Elisha Subhadra Bose Capital GM Subscriptions: Funds Subscription Operations: Senior Principal Correspondent: talks about professionalismPillai values in Kaushal and Ashish K Mishra Principal Correspondent: business family a Network18 Publishing Team Samar Srivastava Prince Mathews Thomas Assistant Editors: Udit Misra, NS Ramnath Writer-Associate: Shravan Bhat DGM: Manoj Palsay Sanjay Bhujle, Dinesh Devadiga, Debraj Sur, Kamal Bisht, Kirupanand By Head of Desk: Sveta Basraon writer name S, Devaraju Gowda, Rahul Mankar Deputy Head of Desk: Jasodhara Banerjee Chief Copy Editor: Kathakali Chanda Copy Editor & Features Writer: Sohini Mitter Senior Data Analyst-Online: Bhagwan Patil Jr Web Programmer: Aditi Satam Art Director: Benu Joshi Routh Assistant Art Director: Minal Shetty Assistant Graphics Director: Sameer Pawar Principal Designers: Hemal Sheth, Sachin Dagwale Production Manager - 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400 013 november 29, 2013 | forbes india | 9 April 22, 2012 | forbes india L e t t e r s to th e E ditor Readers Say Health Resources Investors in Indian capital markets have pulled out substantially Soon there will be no retail investor twitter.com/Forbes_India facebook.com/ForbesIndia linkedin.com/groups?gid=1959962 www.google.com/+ForbesIndia 10 forbes india | november 29, 2013 | Refer to ‘Health Check’ (November 15, 2013, issue) India is said to have a low doctor-patient ratio But the distribution is not the same across states For example, the state of Bihar has about four teaching hospitals whereas Bangalore has about seven teaching hospitals (institutions) Overall the density of doctors and health care facilities is better in southern states I have not yet come across any infographic on the differences in health care facilities across places within India Chetan, on the web Cotton Farming Refer to ‘Farmer Suicides? It’s State Policies That Are Suicidal’ (November 15, 2013, issue) I fully agree with the article Since inception we have been growing Bt cotton on my farm and we are getting good economical benefits from this In the last 11 years, we have never sprayed any pesticides to control bollworm and that is the beauty of this technology Those who are against this awesome technology should visit my village and take the survey there More than 5,000 acres of Bt cotton are grown by 400 farmers here Politicians should not come under the trap of vested interest groups like NGOs that are opposing such a good technology which is a boon for cotton farmers Hitendra Rajput, on the web Data Crunching Refer to ‘The Geeks Are Back in Business’ (November 15, 2013, issue) Good to see India’s name in the world map of analytics Numbers have always been a strong point for people from the land of Aryabhatta Ritesh Das Singh, on the web The Real Challenger Refer to ‘The Art of Focus and Refocus’ (November 15, 2013, issue) Percentage comparison is not the correct way; 100 out of 1,000 is 10 percent and 10,000 out of 100,000 is also the same Still there is a size difference in CTS and TCS in headcount and numbers TCS is still leading in all terms Let’s not talk percentage here, size also matters Paras, on the web I agree that given its size, TCS’s performance is amazing but at the same time Cognizant is not minuscule (compared to TCS) anymore Today Cognizant is 70 percent of TCS and it is 20 years younger than it Cognizant’s revenues from North America are very close to beating that of TCS Not only in percentage terms, Cognizant’s absolute incremental revenues are higher (than TCS’s) in the last three of the eight quarters That is the story of the company Cognizantlongtimer, on the web Unpopular Bourses Refer to ‘Market Maker’ (November 1, 2013, issue) I saw one of [Chitra] Ramkrishna’s presentations in an international seminar but wasn’t quite impressed Investors in Indian capital markets have pulled out substantially What is the utility of such a performance [by NSE] if it ultimately fails to restore investor confidence? Soon there will be no retail investor, and thus no NSE, BSE or Sebi Shila, on the web world’ s most powerfu l people Where the Richest Live LIVING ABROAD DELHI 23 UTTAR PRADESH LIAONING XINJIANG BEIJING 20 GUJARAT WEST BENGAL HEBEI SHANDONG SHANXI JIANGSU MAHARASHTRA 41 Mumbai Pune SHANGHAI SICHUAN ANDHRA PRADESH HUBEI CHONGQING KARNATAKA 15 ZHEJIANG 11 HUNAN Bangalore FUJIAN TAMIL NADU KERALA GUANGDONG 21 HONG KONG The Top 100 Total Billionaires 469 441 TOP INDUSTRIES CHINA REAL ESTATE self made CHINA 99 17 india MANUFACTURING 44 12 222 INDIA Health care 14 53 42 india china 55 52 Manufacturing 122 average age china INDIA 11 62 india china US 2003 Asia Plays Catch-Up US dominance of the world’s economy and wealth rankings remains firmly intact But big leaps by China and, to a lesser degree, India in everything from GDP growth to the number of billionaires hint at a more competitive landscape in years to come US 2008 20 india 2013 usa gdp ($trillion) CHINA 10 under age 50 china $316 billion china Total net worth china 45 up 44% since 2012 US india india $259 billion 12 up 3% since 2012 $49,965 gdp per capita (2012) INDIA $9,233 $3,876 0.5 2002 2004 82 forbes india | November 29, 2013 | 2006 2008 2010 2013E USA china india Life Appraisal LG gets the premium quotient right with its G2 P/89 Nuggets A fridge that’s a perfect fit, other gizmos and goodies P/90 Cheat Sheet Alternative currencies before Bitcoin P/92 Tip Off F-index P/93 Corbis Recliner Joan Behnke redesigns very wealthy homes, and the minds of their owners A window designed by Joan Behnke for The Compas store at the fourth Legends of La Cienega event in Los Angeles Life Recliner The Billionaires’ Curator Joan Behnke redesigns the homes of the rich and famous by first renovating their minds BY Morgan Brennan Ethan Pines for Forbes Joan Behnke, whose A-plus clients love the process: Every piece tells a story 84 forbes india | November 29, 2013 | W hen interior designer Joan Behnke brought Bob and Audrey Byers to Paris, one of their first stops was the Grand Palais The petite, silver-haired Californian marched her new clients, self-made health care multimillionaires, through the great hall’s Monet exhibition, using the painter’s work to engage the couple in a larger discussion about fine art “You have to bring clients along on a journey,” explains Behnke, a soft-spoken 59-yearold “It’s about teaching people to appreciate what they are paying for.” Behnke’s work adorns the homes of some of the planet’s wealthiest people Her clients pay for six-figure furniture by haute designer Hervé Van der Straeten, weathered antiques pulled from the rickety tables of the Paris Flea Market, rare strains of Carrara marble selected along the steep edges of a Tuscan stone quarry, black lacquered chairs created by artisans in a remote fishing village in Myanmar More than anything, though, they pay for the stories that come along with these items Every fixture, every finish, every decoration positioned inside a Behnke-detailed home comes with an adventure attached The designer insists that her clients personally play a role in the narrative, whether as an integral part of the sourcing or as a Behnke-educated font of information on what is in their homes And every step of the journey, from igniting an appreciation for fine art to enabling a client to choose her own bespoke light fixtures at a glassmaker’s studio, contributes to the Behnke brand It’s an investigative process that may span years and cost anywhere from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of dollars On a recent day we visited the Byers’s newly finished 23,000-square- foot Richard Landry-designed château overlooking Lake Sherwood in tony Thousand Oaks, California “I don’t want my clients to just own a personalised piece for the home; I want them to experience it,” Behnke stresses, as we stroll through the mansion Bob Byers eagerly joins the tour, pointing out a restored antique chandelier found at a Paris street market, reclaimed bricks from Boston’s Big Dig that march along the domed stairwell ceiling, a silky handwoven fabric from Laos that wallpapers the powder room and sliced bottle bottoms that form a gleaming glass collage on the wall of Behnke’s handiwork (clockwise from top left): Alec Gores’s screening room, meant to evoke the luxury of the movies’ golden age; a room for Tom Barrack, a collector of orientalist paintings; Bob and Audrey Byers brought Tuscany back home to California; an Arab diplomat’s sculptural family room in Washington, DC November 29, 2013 | forbes india | 85 Life Recliner the wine room The pièce de résistance: The lush black-and-gold home theatre with a glass-panelled strip embedded in the floor to reveal an exotic-car collection in the showroom below Behnke’s network of high-networth clients—or, perhaps more aptly, collaborators—love her for putting them through their paces “She always makes you feel like you are the contributor, that you are manifesting your own mission,” attests Thomas Barrack, the billionaire founder of Colony Capital and a decade-long client Despite a college degree that included art history, Behnke first pursued a career in modern dance and put in time working on films Eventually, she scored a job with design maven Erika Brunson Her first project: Helping design the Saudi royal family’s estates in Riyadh and other locales The gig exposed her to high-luxury vendors and specialised sources across the world, stoking a passion for uncovering unusual items and, once she began her own firm in 1999, a desire to spread that passion to her clients “I don’t view her as a decorator; she is a cultural scientist,” says Barrack “She will research little, narrow, unknown tunnels of history on a particular project and then start drilling down She doesn’t just research of the period; she has contacts all over the world who help her manoeuver through identifying objects and materials.” Behnke first worked on Barrack’s personal residence in Montecito, California When his private equity firm purchased a 36-mile swath of Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda, he enlisted her to help his wife, Laurel, transform the coast’s hotels into bastions of high luxury It meant identifying local artisans to create opulent textiles and furnishings Today the private villas at the Pitrizza and Romazzino hotels (recently sold to Qatar) fetch more than $25,000 a night during the high season, luring business moguls, oligarchs and royals from across the world 86 forbes india | November 29, 2013 | With a client roster that reads like the society pages—or, really, a Forbes list—Joan Behnke & Associates keeps a low profile Even the office flies below the radar, tucked behind unmarked frosted windows on a nondescript block of West Olympic Boulevard in Beverly Hills Still, housing buffs are familiar with her work: It regularly graces the pages of Architectural Digest and Robb Report’s Ultimate Home of the Year issue (her work has snagged three of the past four covers) Behnke’s lack of popular exposure is part of her allure She caters to an echelon of wealth that values discretion And she has earned these clients’ trust in part by charging fixed fees (rather than commissions attached to purchased “I don’t view her as a decorator; she is a cultural scientist She will research little, narrow, unknown tunnels of history on a particular project” items, like most designers) Maybe the rarest gift of all: As many clients attest, Behnke seems to be refreshingly free of ego “Many designers have a specific style, and that’s not Joan,” says Richard Manion, a luxury-home architect currently collaborating with Behnke on a 50,000-squarefoot ‘beach house’ in Abu Dhabi “There is no formula The common thread is that she will give her most personal interpretation of a client’s dreams for a house.” The Abu Dhabi compound, which will blend Eastern and Western aesthetics, is being constructed for a diplomat from an Arab country Like so many of Behnke’s clients, the ambassador is a return customer, having hired her to renovate a Washington, DC abode after experiencing her decor at the ultra-exclusive MGM Grand Mansion’s villas in Las Vegas “I have worked with a lot of people who tell you what they think you should have, and you must push back,” admits the diplomat “She caters to what the client wants, which is why she has a lot of happy, satisfied clients with some very different stuff.” Behnke typically juggles about 10 projects at a time—she is also currently at work on the 22,000-squarefoot interior of quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Giselle Bündchen’s Brentwood mansion, in LA Groundup projects like this can take two to three years on average “Everybody travels with Joan, and it’s really wonderful because she has this network of people in various places to source exotic materials and furniture,” says Robert Veloz, an aerospace-equipment entrepreneur who enlisted Behnke to remodel his Montecito home after he sold his nearby estate to Oprah Winfrey for $50 million “You present concept boards,” says Behnke, “and sometimes people glaze over Then you go through the educational process, and they come to that concept themselves It becomes so rewarding.” When Behnke whisks me through the front door of Alec Gores’s 40,000-square-foot estate inside the gates of an exclusive Beverly Hills community, the private equity billionaire bounds out to hug her, singing her praises (her projects for the Gores family have included vacation retreats, office buildings, even a private jet) The home spans three floors, with rooms that range from a poker den to a series of masculine home offices to a vast gourmet kitchen made homey by plush couches and warm accents Between the breadth of the property and the endless stories that accompany every decoration, the tour takes more than two hours— not at all an unusual time span for a Behnke-designed house After all, she and her clients have already arrived at the end of a rich journey Inside the mad science of scent manipulation BY HannaH Elliott “Scent can change the way you feel about a space,” says Dawn, right (Her sister, Samantha, is on the left.) “It’s disconcerting if the fragrance isn’t right” T Recliner he subtle art of consumer manipulation is meant to put shoppers in a buying mood—and these days they are being led around by the nose Call it the new frontier of subliminal seduction: A cottage industry to massage your mood by introducing aromas while you browse upscale boutiques or walk hotel hallways “Scent is an underleveraged opportunity,” says Chad Murawczyk, the founder and CEO of MiN New York, which acts as a go-between for scent-technology companies like Air Aroma and retailers “It is the secret key to creating an emotional bond with your customers, but all of the money and all of the focus is currently on sight and sound.” Well, maybe not all the money At a masquerade party at the Guggenheim Museum to celebrate Lady Gaga’s latest act, a perfume called Fame, she conducted a Sleeping Beauty noir performance from a bed inside a 20foot Plexiglas orb A black-and-white film by Steven Klein played on large screens while a pair of striking blondes in Zac Posen directed a crew of young women with headsets and clipboards One wore a vintage Bottega Veneta tiara, the other a Venetian mask They did not appear to be caterers As it turned out, these twins have become something of a fixture on the downtown scene: 34-year-old twins Dawn and Samantha Goldworm helm a $5 million company that caters to the sense of smell Their endeavor, 12.29, develops bespoke scents guaranteed to communicate a brand’s perfect essence “When you scent a space you’re changing the way people feel about it,” Dawn, a former “nose” for perfume giant Coty, said after Gaga’s party She had chosen notes of saffron, leather, orchid and violet along with a few ingrédients obscurs for the soiree If the idea was to titillate guests with the suggestion of something decadent and forbidden, it worked like a charm That comes as no surprise to 12.29—the name refers to the twins’ birthday—which has worked its spell in everything from packaging and November 29, 2013 | forbes india | 87 David Yellen for Forbes Marketing To Your Nose Life Life Recliner candles to nightclubs, restaurants and runway shows Clients include Rodarte, Jason Wu, Thakoon, Zac Posen, Purple magazine and Mercedes-Benz, and corporations in Europe and China Prices range from $5,000 for a home scent to six figures for a proprietary fragrance Clients say it’s money well spent “If the way the food tastes is important, the way the room looks is important and the way the music sounds is important, it would be impossible to overlook the powerful influence scent has over any sensory experience,” says Eugene Remm, who owns the nightlife empire EMM Group, which includes Catch, Finale and SL in New York and Miami “It kick-starts a series of positive associations throughout all of our properties and raises expectations.” The Goldworms—and competitors like Bespoke Fragrance, Scenterprises and Brandaroma—are selling the idea that a proprietary scent can take brand identity further than any logo or advertorial If you want consumers to understand your brand, the thinking goes, let them inhale it It’s not a new idea Abercrombie & Fitch has embraced this mentality for years—shoppers can smell its Fifth Avenue store from across the street—but today’s purveyors are more subtle and more pervasive Samantha, the business half of 12.29, says scents create stronger impressions than traditional marketing because the olfactory sense is tied to the most acute part of memory Researchers believe humans can recognise roughly 10,000 odours and recall particular smells with 65 percent accuracy even a year later For visual indicators like signs or logos, accuracy reaches only 50 percent after a year The key to creating a distinctive scent is in the ingredients, which is where the expense comes in The sisters decline to say how much they spend developing each new fragrance, but with the price of ingredients they employ, it’s considerable It takes 50,000 specimens (about 900 kg) of, say, the centifolia rose to produce kg of “rose absolute”, at a cost of about $10,000 per kg The even trickier orris (Iris) root has a special extraction method that compounds its price: The root is peeled and ground before being made into a butter and stored for years Oil yield after extraction is minuscule, which drives the cost to nearly $140,000 per kg for the best quality It’s no surprise, then, that large fragrance firms like Givaudan can spend $15 million to $20 million and up to 10 years to develop one proprietary fragrance Then there’s the question of the delivery system It’s a delicate maneuver, notes MiN’s Murawczyk, especially for smells diffused via air: The juice must be distributed Eric Reed / Invision / AP 12.29 recently launched a collection of candles in French porcelain jars They go for $150 Refills are $75 88 forbes india | November 29, 2013 | through a space evenly, effortlessly, unperceived and on cue For Rodarte’s runway show the Goldworms used 10 diffusers placed under the seats It was like trying to solve a geometry puzzle “Just spraying the scent into the room would make you feel like you were eating the perfume, which is disgusting and overwhelming,” said Dawn All worked well, though she later heard that one high-profile fashion editor had complained of smelling like burnt wood—a technical misstep since adjusted The process for a project like Gaga’s party can take seven months and many trials, as Jason Pomeranc, cofounder of Thompson Hotels, found In a meeting this year he considered four small jars of clear liquid Each contained notes of leather, amber and wood, but each also smelled distinct: One option produced visions of cigar-chomping huntsmen sipping whiskey; another, lighter on the tobacco and smoke elements, called to mind a slice of lime floating in a gin and tonic Pomeranc vetoed both He had described textures that the scent should embody: The color black, aubergine, the feel of velvet, old Hollywood, something “comfortable but a bit sinister” The target? Intellectuals, artists and “modern thinkers who feel at home in the darker nooks of the world’s greatest cities.” “It’s hard to resolve conflicting states of emotion in a fragrance,” Pomeranc said “The goal is to create a connective tissue—we want to be welcoming to everyone but not pandering to anyone.” After spraying each of the trials into a separate office, Pomeranc finally chose one The juice smelled like it had come from Somewhere Else; not just a nice smell—it seemed to have a story behind it Then again, “smelling nice” was never the point “We’ve all walked into spaces and said it smells amazing, but that is irrelevant,” Murawczyk says “This is the greatest possible pivot point for a brand—to go from being ‘something nice’ to something that has guests wanting a repeat experience.” Life Appraisal Phone The LG G2 IS impressIVE By Roydon Cerejo L G’s had a rough couple of years trying to break into the Android big leagues For quite some time now, not many took them seriously when it came to premium handsets While the company has managed to release offerings that were comparable spec for spec, they lacked the premium look and feel— something that HTC, Nokia and Samsung always nailed With the G2, LG has stuck to a simple candy bar design with sculpted edges and a lacquer finish around the back Despite the 5.2-inch display, the phone is not ungainly to hold, and the slight curved back gives you a good grip The G2 loves fingerprints and will grab one every chance it gets We liked the black version a lot more than the white The handset is devoid of buttons on the side as everything has been moved to the back We feel this was done as a differentiating factor rather than a design choice; it’s not terribly inconvenient either The buttons take their place just below the 13MP camera Overall, the G2 is a marked improvement from what we’ve seen from LG in the past The phone feels solidly built, has good ergonomics and feels premium It has a reassuring heft Display is one area where LG nails it and the G2 is another shining example of this The Full HD IPS panel is incredibly bright for sunlight legibility and produces punchy colours that aren’t oversaturated like Amoled panels This is easily on par with HTC’s SLCD panel on the One or Apple’s iPhone There’s barely any bezel on the top and bottom and even lesser on the sides which gives the illusion of all screen In terms of software, there’s Jelly Bean 4.2.2 The interface has all the tricks of the Optimus G Pro, along with some new ones The G2 is powered by Qualcomm’s finest Snapdragon 800 SoC This quad-core beast can scale up to a scorching 2.2 GHz and has GB of RAM to keep it happy Despite the speed, the G2 never gets hot even after using the camera, GPS or gaming The rear gets slightly warm but nothing more The audio and video players are skinned differently in the G2 and one big enhancement is support for 24 bit, 192 kHz audio, which is studio quality This lets you get the most out of your Flac audio files and the difference between them and MP3s is very noticeable, given the right earphones The speaker is fairly loud, although it’s best left for alerts There’s a 16 GB and 32 GB version available, but sadly none of them has a slot for memory expansion The video player plays back most video formats including MKV A new addition is Audio Zoom, which lets you selectively listen to audio from parts of a video and drown out the rest The problem with this is in order for it to work, you need to use digital zoom and that ruins the quality of the video Courtesy: Tech2 Phone: LG G2 Specs: 16 GB or 32 GB; 5.2-inch display; 13MP camera; 2.26 GHz quad-core; GB of RAM; AC Wi-Fi; Bluetooth v4.0 Software: Jelly Bean 4.2.2; Optimus UI, Snapdragon 800 SoC Price: Rs 44,500 november 29, 2013 | forbes india | 89 Life Nuggets A pick of the best, the latest, the greenest, the quirkiest, the most luxurious that money can buy home Easy Fit Fisher & Paykel’s Integrated Fridge is made-to-measure and can seamlessly fit into your existing kitchen cabinetry The Variable Holiday Mode feature ensures its efficient running while you are away f isherpaykel.com 90 forbes india | november 29, 2013 | tech Play Back The Bayan Audio Soundbook is a stylish portable speaker that is wireless and has Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity It incorporates an FM radio, and can act as a speakerphone too Available in a range of colours bayanaudio.com home Midas Touch Odel’s Tea Set Cabinet revs up the aesthetic quotient of your home A lacquered product with a gold finish, this can be used to store the tea set or kept just as a decorative piece tech facebook.com/OdelOnline Shoot at Sight Garmin’s Virb Camera is a bundle of joy for shutterbugs This action-sports camera is not only waterproof but also endowed with full HD recording features, GPS connectivity, an altimeter, an accelerometer and a superb wideangle lens It can be synced easily with most handheld devices garmin.com home White Beauty Designed by architects Shivangi Dham and Sankalp Pardeshi, this low centre table has a Greek-style border and clawfoot-legs reminiscent of the Baroque period If understated elegance is your style, this is for you 10youdesign.wix.com Midas Touch, White Beauty, Easy Fit, courtesy Better Interiors, Shoot at Sight, Play Back, courtesy T3 (This material is reproduced from T3 magazine and is the copyright of or licensed to Future Publishing Limited, a Future plc group company, UK2010 Used under licence All rights reserved.) november 29, 2013 | forbes india | 91 Life Ammunition Cheat Sheet Alternative Currencies The world’s first Bitcoin ATM, in Canada’s Vancouver, opened to media frenzy on October 29 But this is not the first alternative currency to have attracted so much attention By Jasodhara Banerjee David Ryder / Getty Images Ithaca Hours: The oldest surviving alternative currency in the United States, one Ithaca Hour is considered the equivalent of one hour’s work, and is usually equal to $10 Although it is not backed by the national currency and cannot be converted freely to US dollars, businesses in Ithaca, New York, accept it It was started in 1991 by Paul Grover, and was based on ‘scrips’ issued during the Great Depression Brixton Pound: A local currency founded in 2009 as an alternative to the sterling pound, it aims to encourage residents to buy from independent, neighbourhood shops, which in turn source their produce locally An electronic version of the currency allows users to pay via text messages from their phones Time Banking / Time Dollars: Similar to Ithaca Hours, one Time Dollar is equated with one hour’s worth of work It is the fundamental unit of the time banking system Time Dollars are earned by providing service and spent while receiving services They can be saved for later use, and are unaffected by inflation; but since they 92 forbes india | November 29, 2013 | not earn interest, there is not much sense in collecting them for a long time Excess Time Dollars can be donated towards a community pool Wära: In the Germany of 1929, Helmut Rödiger and Hans Timm founded the Wära, which was equivalent to one Reichsmark but each note had a validity period The idea was to keep the currency in circulation so that it did not lose value The success of an experiment in Schwanenkirchen, where coalmine workers were paid largely in this currency, led to the resurgence of the local economy and business But it also attracted the attention, and then the wrath, of the Reich, which ordered its end Mohammad Bin Tughlaq’s coins: This Delhi Sultan’s experiments in administration have often been shown in poor light One such experiment, in 1330, was token copper coins, equivalent in value to gold and copper coins While the idea wasn’t flawed, its implementation was: Tughlaq failed to ensure that the state alone could issue these coins— fake coins flooded the market, leading to economic disaster Tip-Off Culinary Studio Nothing bonds like food, we know But regular home kitchens just don’t cut it when it comes to hosting a corporate group for a team-building exercise Or your 10-year-old’s Masterchefthemed birthday party Which is why Something’s Cooking Culinary Arts’ state-of-the-art studio seems to be an idea whose time has come The brainchild of Booth School of Business grad Satish Venkatachaliah, the Something’s Cooking studio offers eight independent work-stations, a well-stocked pantry, a number of programmes (to hone negotiation skills, there’s Sabzi Mandi; for deadline management, try one of the ‘Gourmet’ options) and the guidance of two qualified chefs At the end of the session—it could last anywhere between three hours to a full day—one sits down in the casual dining section to enjoy a meal with colleagues or friends one understands just a little bit better “Cooking helps break organisational barriers,” says Venkatachalaiah, who plans to replicate the studio in at least six other cities over the next 24 months —Sumana Mukherjee Details: somethingscooking.in Currently operational only in Bangalore 2012 2013 Electric sparklers (7 cm) Rs 12 Rs 13 +8.3% Charkhi (large) 35 38 +8.6 Flower pot (small) 50 56 +12 Atom bomb 42.5 45 +5.7 String of 100 crackers 55 60 +9 f-index Crackers up! This Diwali was reportedly quieter than previous ones in many cities The media has reported on citizens becoming increasingly conscious about the noise pollution caused by many firecrackers, and housing societies and neighbourhoods deciding against buying them The rising costs of firecrackers have also been a deterrent Stringent government regulations regarding the safety and working conditions of migrant workers— two firecracker factories in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, were gutted in August—along with the lifting of subsidies on some raw materials have resulted in the higher cost of firecrackers India’s domestic firecracker industry is estimated to be worth more than Rs 1,500 crore a year We made some quick calls to wholesalers in Sivakasi, where 90 percent of India’s firecrackers are made, to find out about increase in prices —Shravan Bhat Price per pack of 10 November 29, 2013 | forbes india | 93 Life Thoughts Thoughts on mars It’s not going to any good to land on Mars if we’re stupid Mars has been flown by, orbited, smacked into, radar examined, and rocketed onto, as well as bounced upon, rolled over, shovelled, drilled into, baked and even blasted Still to come: Mars being stepped on Ray Bradbury If there was an observer on Mars, they would probably be amazed that we have survived this long Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin Noam Chomsky It will free man from the remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet Ronald Reagan used to alarm his Soviet counterparts by saying that surely they’d both unite against an invasion from Mars Wernher von Braun Christopher Hitchens Sameer Pawar Land on Mars, a round-trip ticket— half a million dollars It can be done Elon Musk I think space exploration is very important I think there is very intelligent life on Mars I believe that Martians are spying on us from the bottom of the ocean Annabella Sciorra 94 forbes india | november 29, 2013 | Perhaps the best motivation for going to Mars is political It is obvious that no single nation currently has either the will or the resources to it alone, but a consortium of nations and space agencies could achieve it within 20 years Paul Davies The first colony on Mars is not going to be built by a private company How are you going to make money? You’re not Neil deGrasse Tyson A visitor from Mars could easily pick out the civilised nations They have the best implements of war Herbert V Prochnow Hope you loved our I NDIA Tablet Edition Do mail us your feedback at: letterstoforbesindia@network18online.com ... twitter.com /Forbes_ India facebook.com/ForbesIndia linkedin.com/groups?gid=1959962 www.google.com/+ForbesIndia 10 forbes india | november 29, 2013 | Refer to ‘Health Check’ (November 15, 2013, issue) India. .. formal launch in India in November that year 26 forbes india | November 29, 2013 | Rahul Sharma: “We’re targeting one billion dollars by the end of 2013? ?? November 29, 2013 | forbes india | 27... Jagannathan Editor-in-Chief, Forbes India r.jagannathan@network18online.com @TheJaggi november 29, 2013 | forbes india | 5 Contents Volu me | Issue 25 | November 29, 013 26 72 The List The 72