How to Think Understatement Is the Hallmark of Says True Luxury, Vikas Oberoi ÜBER RICH CAN
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AADHAAR: HOW NILEKANI FINESSED THE SYSTEM RNI REG. NO. MAHENG/2009/28102 PRICE RS. 125. OCTOBER 18, 2013 FORBES INDIA The BEST THINGS MONEY CAN VOLUME 5 ISSUE 21 BUY How Cars INDIA Bikes To Private Jets OCTOBER 18, 2013 Gadgets Think Food Adventure Watches ÜBER Wine Whisky RICH and more... THE BEST THINGS MONEY CAN BUY Understatement is the hallmark of true luxury, says Vikas Oberoi www.forbesindia.com LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rich Is a State of Mind ahul Gandhi was perhaps on to something when he said some time back that poverty is a state of mind. What he did not elaborate R on was how this state of mind has become the guiding principle in Indian political discourse. Politicians love poverty, since it gives them endless opportunities to tax everybody and everything and focus on pork-barrel schemes to “alleviate” this condition. Sorry, we don’t buy this. We think it is glorious to be rich, especially when it is the result of our own eff orts. It is time to rekindle the spirit of human aspiration by changing our thinking. We should foster richness rather than poverty as a state of mind. It requires no genius to tell us that it is aspiration that creates growth and wealth. It is in the process of aspiring INDIA for something and making eff orts to meet our desires that we collectively end up pushing growth. In the process, we also pull everybody up to a better life. It is with this attitude in mind that we present this luxury special where we focus on The Best Things Money Can Buy, among other things. For what is the purpose of being rich if we can’t aspire for something? If we accept the reality that aspiration drives growth, higher aspiration should drive faster progress. Striving for the If we accept that best things in life creates a hierarchy of material and non- aspiration drives material needs that, ultimately, delivers a virtuous cycle growth, higher of continuing progress. But here’s the surprise: While aspiration should looking for luxury and richness, we found less vulgarity than we expected to fi nd. Even for those who can aff ord to drive faster progress spend and splurge on the priciest things in the world, the driving force is not just the desire to own things, but to be who they really are. As we said, rich is a state of mind. And while we are on the subject of richness and Best, wealth, this issue also brings you the Forbes 400—a listing of the wealthiest billionaires in the US, many of whom have joined Warren Buff ett in the Giving Pledge. The truly evolved Super Rich believe not R JAGANNATHAN only in splurging but also in giving it away. Editor-in-Chief, Forbes India [email protected] @TheJaggi OCTOBER 18, 2013 | FORBES INDIA | 5 Contents Volume 5 | Issue 21 | October 18, 2013 The BEST THINGS MONEY CAN BUY INDIA Features Not just vacations, ttheyhey are 118118 WristyWristy Business experiences The year’s best watches for THE BEST THINGS MONEY every personality CAN BUY 94 Food Fit For Kings 60 The Next Frontier The world’s most expensive, 122 The Indian Blue Despite a slow economy, novelty now in a restaurant near you Luxury fountain pens made in drives the Indian luxury segment India have caught the world’s fancy 98 Bottle Envy 70 To the Manor Born Beyond price and accessibility, 126 Left to His Own Devices To the Oberois, luxury is about emotions are attached to wines Personal technology makes having taste, not fl aunting it Vishal Gondal tick 100 Liquid Art 76 Arrival Lounge Real whisky is for the discerning; it 128 Keeping Ahead of Cool Buying a jet confi rms your status. takes a connoisseur to appreciate it Unconventional ‘toys’ for Next, you personalise it gadget geeks 104 In Pursuit of Simple Luxury 80 Wheels R Us For Ajai Bijli, luxury is a matter Cars that speak for you of simplicity and functionality 84 ‘No Car Is the Same 108 I Buy, Because as Another. That’s Luxury’ I Can Anil Reddi on selling a luxury Necessity has little brand to do with these rich baubles 86 Fast Forward Magnifi cent beasts on two wheels 114 Time Machine A brief history of 90 Ticket to Ride luxury timekeeping 18 | FORBES INDIA | OCTOBER 18, 2013 Contents 70 46 Mr Unique: Nandan Nilekani 132 The Really, Really Turbulent Times Good Life The nominees for 2013 Five luxe homes, and the thought behind them 140 The Forbes 400 A billion dollars is not REAL ISSUE INDenoughIA to make it to the list 46 Past the Tipping Point any more Despite its detractors, Aadhaar is now too big 160 Billionaires and to fail Well-Grounded Heirs How do the super rich avoid FORBES INDIA raising spoilt brats? LEADERSHIP AWARDS The High Life: Vikas Oberoi 138 Leadership in 160 Upfront TROPHY HOMES 40 Living Large Where do America’s rich set up homes? COLUMN 42 Once China Catches Up—What Then? China will still need to send its children to US colleges 44 Simple, but Not Easy How to identify a neglected fi rm Regulars Subscriber Service: To subscribe, change address or enquire about other customer WE VALUE YOUR FEEDBACK. services, please contact: FORBES INDIA, Subscription Cell, C/o Digital 18 Media Ltd, Empire Write to us at: Complex, 414, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013. Tel: 91-22-40019873 / [email protected] 26 Letters 4001 9874. Fax- 022-24910804 (Mon – Friday: 10 am - 6 pm) SMS FORBES to 51818 Letters may be edited for brevity. Email: [email protected], Read us online at www.forbesindia.com 28 Check-in To subscribe, visit www.forbesindia.com/subscription/ To advertise, visit www.forbesindia.com/advertise/ Cover Photographs by 166 Thoughts Toranj Kayvon for Forbes India Vikas Oberoi: Toranj Kayvon for Forbes India; Nadan Nilekani: Mallikarjun Katakol for Forbes India; Michael Prince for Forbes for Forbes India; Michael Prince for Forbes India; Nadan Nilekani: Mallikarjun Katakol Kayvon for Vikas Oberoi: Toranj 20 | FORBES INDIA | OCTOBER 18, 2013 www.forbesindia.com Magazine Upfront Features Life Daily Sabbatical Multimedia Blogs News Lists INDIA http://forbesindia.com/blog/ MUST-READ BLOGS http://facebook.com/forbesindia/ Tales of a Ghanaian FACEBOOK FANS in Botswana After its independence in We have added 20,000 fans over 1966, Botswana the last fortnight. The buzz is discovered growing. Have you ‘Liked’ us yet? diamonds in the 90,088 early 1970s and became wealthy overnight League Tables are Everyone grumbles about the Over Rated. Then Why poor quality of labour, but Do We Pay So Much only a handful have invested Attention to Them?IND signifi cantlyIA in skill training In education, none of the things that actually matter Why Smart Phones can be captured by league Need Smarter tables. League tables only Applications measure quantifi able things As mobile applications development environment Hope for a Skilled gets more sophisticated, India... Finally! developers need richer Most companies in India capabilities to shoulder play lip service to training. greater responsibilities http://forbesindia.com/multimedia/audio/1 FORBES INDIA Podcasts Now Available on iPad THE NEXT YOGESH FRONTIER MAHANSARIA’S Download the SECOND Forbes India App By Abhilasha COMING Khaitan By Ashish K Mishra http://forbesindia.com/thedailysabbatical/ Is There Life After an MBA? You have many expectations when you opt for an DAILY SABBATICAL Why Unqualified MBA. Ten years hence, it looks different. An INSEAD Candidates Get case study throws light on career successes and Hired Anyway personal fulfi llment levels of the MBA class of 2002 Why do businesses evaluate candidates solely on past job performance, failing to Should You Build, Analysis: consider the present job’s Borrow or Buy? Reputational diffi culty? Why do university Companies that become Risk in the admissions offi cers focus viable in the long run Supply Chain on high GPAs, discounting are the ones that build Firms seeking to avoid infl uence of easy grading the ability to have supply chain issues tend standards? Francesca Gino a portfolio of build/ to come up with the and colleagues investigate borrow/buy activities wisest strategies 22 | FORBES INDIA | OCTOBER 18, 2013 Founder & Editor, Network18: Group CEO, Network 18 & Director Operations, Network18 & Raghav Bahl Publisher, Forbes India: COO IBN Lokmat: Sanjay Sharma President & Editorial Director, TV18: B Sai Kumar Operations Director & CTO Senthil Chengalvarayan Broadcast: Piyush Gupta Group COO, Network 18 : Editor-in-Chief: R Jagannathan Ajay Chacko FORBES MEDIA LLC Managing Editor: Sourav Majumdar CEO, Forbes India: Gurmeet Singh Chairman & Editor-in-Chief: Steve Forbes Design Director: Anjan Das ADVERTISING SALES President & CEO: Mike Perlis Director-Online & Events: Senior Vice Presidents: Chief Product Officer: Deepak Ajwani Vishal Srivastava Lewis D Vorkin Maulik Thakkar, Kumar P, CEO / Asia: William Adamopoulos Editor (Features & Special Projects): Manavdeep Singh, S Shivakumar, Editor, Forbes Asia: Tim Ferguson Abhilasha Khaitan Fardeen Sayeed, Niraj Ladia, Editor (ForbesLife India Nitya Sharma, Atishay Singh, & Social Media): Peter Griffin Jaskaran Gulati, Preetika Mehta, Senior Editor: Seema Singh Mansi Shah, Sahil Menghani, Views & opinions expressed in this Rashmi Nath, Vibhor Nigam, Senior Associate Editor: magazine are not necessarily those of Cuckoo Paul Prashant Shirke & Kumar Kamble Digital18 Media Limited (Digital18), its Contributing Editor: publisher and/or editors. We (at Digital Mitu Jayashankar EVENTS 18) do our best to verify the informa- Events Head : Alpana Gulati tion published, but do not take any Consulting Editor: responsibility for the absolute accuracy Sumana Mukherjee Shriram Narayanmurthy, Girish Sharma, Sajjan Sharma of the information. Digital18 does not accept responsibility for any investment Editor (Markets And Finance): or other decision taken by readers on the Pravin Palande DISTRIBUTION basis of information provided herein.