THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL CELEBRITIES FORBES INDIA VOLUME 4 ISSUE 14 JULY 6, 2012 4 ISSUE 14 JULY INDIA VOLUME FORBES INDIA PRICE RS. 100. JULY 6, 2012 WHAT’S WRONG WITH FLIPKARTINDIA India’s e-commerce darling is headed for a fall WHAT AILS FLIPKART WHAT www.forbesindia.com Letter From The Editor Surviving the Perfect Storm n the last edition, I had raised a dramatic story that is bound to give the issue of how we, as a nation, you a whole new perspective on one Ineed to nurture many more fi rst- of India’s best known online fi rms. generation entrepreneurs. There is an Of course, the chances are that absolute dearth of such role models in the story could run smack into the India. Which is why Flipkart, founded popular—and almost romantic— IRONICALLY, FOR ME, by two friends from IIT-D—Sachin and perception of entrepreneurship that THE BIGGEST LESSON Binny Bansal—is the poster-boy of India’s Flipkart represents. We’ve tried not WAS THAT IF YOU internet economy. With the exception to fall prey to that temptation. PURSUE CUSTOMER- of makemytrip.com, there aren’t too In 2009, before we did our cover CENTRICITY TOO HARD, many new entrepreneurial ventures in story on SKS exposing the deep fault- INDAS THE BANSALSIA DID, the last 10 years that have created—or lines inside, it was seen as the role IT COULD WELL BE are even likely to create—billion-dollar model for a scalable microfi nance LIFE-THREATENING enterprises. Anyone who has ordered company that could help eradicate ------- music or bought books from their site poverty. A few months later, SKS even once would testify to just how nifty found itself engulfed in a perfect storm their service is. And it would be fair to that it still hasn’t gotten out of. say that they’d be amongst the most So what’s eating Flipkart? I’d much popular online brands in the country. rather that you read my colleague So why on earth do we have a cover Rohin Dharmakumar’s story for that seems to suggest that things aren’t answers. There are many lessons exactly hunky-dory inside Flipkart? in starting up nestled in there. Simply because that’s the way things Ironically, for me, the biggest lesson really are. We’ve studied Flipkart for was that if you pursue customer- weeks, spoken to scores of people— centricity too hard, as the Bansals did, inside and outside the fi rm—and vetted it could well be life-threatening. Give our hypothesis carefully to bring you it a thought when you turn to page 38. Best, Indrajit Gupta Editor, Forbes India [email protected] @indrajitgupta July 6, 2012 | FORBES INDIA 3 52 INDIA Volume 4 | Issue 14 | July 6, 2012 Contents UPFRONT FEATURES BREAKPOINT REAL ISSUE 22 Everybody Loves Bheem 34 Trading Places Producers of Chhota Bheem are cashing Rajat Gupta’s conviction shows 38 in on their superhero’s popularity among kids Uncle Sam is beginning to crack down on white-collar crime Reuters 24 Soul Food HRD minister Kapil Sibal Abbott Nutrition is adopting a diff erent 52 Between Heaven and Earth tack in nutrition India’s dream to come up with the world’s cheapest tablet has fi zzled BRIEFING out. Now questions remain on what 74 Pharma’s Missing Link 26 A Crude Awakening INDwent wrong with the Aakash projectIACan Elias Zerhouni fi x Sanofi The drop in fuel prices will pump up and the pharma industry’s woeful a growing economy like India MY LEARNINGS innovation record at once? 58 ‘I don’t want to be consistent, IDEAS & OPINIONS I want to surprise’ ENTERPRISE 28 Profi t in the Era of Scarcity 22 Sofi tel Hotels’ Robert Gaymer-Jones 68 True Blue Success Frugality, fl exibility and inclusiveness believes that the luxury hotel world is Sameer Sain pulled Blue Foods are the principles of Jugaad 2.0 driven by personality out of debt and losses. He’s now looking for hyper-growth CURRENT EVENTS CROSS BORDER 30 Revolutionary Road 62 M&M’s American Speed Bump ZEN GARDEN PMO proposes a technocratic solution to Indian auto biggie Mahindra & 71 The Power of Vision boost private investment in infrastructure, Mahindra is embroiled in a legal LV Prasad Eye Institute’s founder but the real issues are political controversy in the US over a pick-up it Dr Gullapalli Rao is spreading has yet to release integrity along with sight 32 Right Back in Europe Fascists gain strength in the continent’s governments amidst the economic slowdown REGULARS 16 Letters to the Editor 18 Exit Interview 19 Close Range 20 World Watch Namas Bhojani for Forbes India Namas Bhojani for Forbes 114 Thoughts SKATING ON THIN ICE Flipkart will need to rethink its strategies and become less audacious if it wants to become the Amazon of India 62 Dinesh Krishnan Cover Photograph: Lucas Jackson / Reuters 34 Mallikarjun Katakol for Forbes India Rajat Gupta with his lawyer Anand Mahindra, chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra 10 FORBES INDIA | July 6, 2012 July 6, 2012 | FORBES INDIA 11 INDIA Volume 4 | Issue 14 | July 6, 2012 Contents THECELEBRITY100 86 The New Fame Game New A-list celebrities are leveraging their fame to make early-stage investments—or launch startups themselves 94 The Celebrity 100: The Full List Thanks to unscripted television and social media, 24-hour personalities dominateIND this year’s list of theIA 100 most infl uential people in entertainment 100 Turnaround Artist American Idol gave Jennifer Lopez a second chance and she is now sitting pretty at the top of our Celebrity 100 104 Seth MacFarlane Gets Serious The Family Guy creator’s next project is likely to shock even his most hardened fans 110 The Franchise Saver Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has emerged as the world’s biggest action hero through feats not even Stallone or Michael Prince for Forbes Michael Prince Schwarzenegger could pull off 78 113 The Many Paths to the Celebrity 100 THE CELEBRITY 100 Justin Bieber, Venture Capitalist The 18-year-old idol has earned $108 million over the past two years. With WE VALUE YOUR FEEDBACK. several quiet tech startup investments, Write to us at: [email protected] he’s now trying to make similar Letters may be edited for brevity. conquests in Silicon Valley Read us online at www.forbesindia.com 12 FORBES INDIA | July 6, 2012 INDIA Founder & Editor, Network18: Group CEO, Network18: Operations Director & CTO Raghav Bahl B Sai Kumar Broadcast: Piyush Gupta President & Editorial Director, TV18: EVP - HR: Ajit Singh Vig Senthil Chengalvarayan CEO, Forbes India: Gurmeet Singh EVP - Legal: Kshipra Jatana Editor, Forbes India: Indrajit Gupta ADVERTISING SALES Executive Editor: Charles Assisi Senior Vice Presidents: Rubeena FORBES MEDIA LLC Deputy Editor: Shishir Prasad Singh, Seshadri Iyer & Vishal Chairman & Editor-in-Chief: Srivastava Steve Forbes Design Director: Anjan Das Abhishek Shah, Alpana Gulati, Chairman, Forbes Digital: Director-Photography: Dinesh Krishnan Kumar P, Manavdeep Singh, Maulik Timothy Forbes Director-Online & Events: Thakkar, Niraj Ladia, Nitya Sharma, President & CEO: Mike Perlis Deepak Ajwani Shivkumar, Anuj Kakar, Atishay Singh, Vice Chairman: Kumar Kamble, Prashant Shirke, Christopher Forbes Senior Editor (Economy & Policy): Fardeen Sayeed, Rashmi Nath, President, ForbesLife: Robert Forbes Dinesh Narayanan Mansi Shah & Vibhor Nigam Chief Product Officer: Lewis D’Vorkin Associate Editors: Cuckoo Paul, President & Publisher, Forbes Asia: Pravin Palande & Seema Singh DISTRIBUTION William Adamopoulos Editor (Special Features & Social Editor, Forbes Asia: Tim Ferguson Forbes India Team Distribution Media): Peter Griffin Head: Sunil Nair Contributing Editor: Mitu Jayashankar Consulting Editor: Sumana Mukherjee Ashish Chakravorty, Soorendra Desai & Sanjay Elisha Views & opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Digital18 Media Editor, Media & Entertainment: Subscriptions Manager: Rajiv Mani Limited (Digital18), its publisher and/or editors. 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