Times Group boss Vineet Jain paid himself about Rs 50 cr as remuneration in FY14 and gave truckloads to others too

Charity begins at home, some say. Veritable media mogul Vineet Jain, 50, who holds the position of Managing Director in Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL), literally laughed all his way to the bank in fiscal year ended March 2014 after he got an extremely fat, (no, almost obese), remuneration.

'Jain Zen'

26 years into country's largest mass media company, Vineet has made a name for himself for many things but most of all for "steering" BCCL into the money way. Running an ever-expanding business is no child's play and he has done that, I dare say, with elan! In 2014, he finally paid himself one of the biggest salaries in Corporate India history. He paid himself an eye-popping Rs 463,767,952 (Rs 46.37 crore) as remuneration in this year!

My wife, a journalist herself, says what's the big deal in this? "He practically owns the company along with his brother Samir. It publishes The Times of India, kumar. THE TOI, ET, NBT...," she reasons. Nevermind, I am still in awe.

This Rs 46.37 crore remuneration means every day that Mr Jain, who has a MBA in Marketing, spent in FY14 was billed at a staggering Rs 13 lakh for whatever he gave the firm. I can't even earn that amount in one full year. Every day, Rs 13 lakh. For 350 days. Fantastic!

Unlisted Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL) as you know is primarily engaged in the business of publication of newspapers. It publishes the highest selling English broadsheet daily in the world, i.e., The Times of India. Apart from this, the company publishes newspapers like The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times, etc. It also houses television channels zoOm, Times Now and ET Now. BCCL has subsidiaries which are engaged in the areas of internet, e-commerce, radio, television, out of home, etc.

Let me explain the reason behind my long-lasting awe. From what I gather, BCCL made about Rs 5,700 crore in FY14 year with about 821 crore in net profits. Mr Vineet Jain, by that measure, all by himself got about 5.5 per cent of the company's bottomline. At the absolute level, this Rs 46.37 crore remuneration ranks with the best of the best of the best of the best ...

SAP old hand and now CEO of Infosys, Mr Vishal Sikka thought (and we all did) landed a great deal with Rs 30 crore pay packet with India's most loved IT company. Mr. Anil Manibhai Naik of Larsen and Toubro got about Rs 21 crore in a year. Sun Group promoter and chief executive Mr Kalanithi Maran got Rs 56 crore. Kumarmangalam Birla, who lords over the Birla empire, also got Rs 50 crore. So you see, Mr Vineet Jain is right up there. In that August company of rich men...

Comparisons of Jain's pay with others in the 'Media' industry are virtually pointless. A true Goliath among dwarf davids. India Today Group CEO Ashish Bagga got about Rs 4.4 crore as pay packet last year. BCCL CEO Ravi Dhariwal took home a whopping Rs 11 crore in FY'13 financial year (including performance pay), CEO Rajiv Verma of HT Media earned Rs 4.68 crore in 2012-13 while newly appointed CEO Of Kasturi & Sons CEO Rajiv Lochan is contracted to earn Rs 1.75 crore. Clearly, Mr. Jain is the big daddy when it comes to earning big bucks. He is the undisputed King of kings!

Jain had got Rs 14.90 crore in FY'13 and Rs 14.57 crore in FY'12. What exactly led to his remuneration rising manifold this year is not clear. However, a large part of his Rs 46.37 crore could be in form of 'commissions'. No idea what that was for. If any of you do, give me a shout.

There Are Others

Last year -- that is in FY13 -- the highest paid in the firm was Indu Jain, BCCL, Chairperson -- mother of Vineet and Samir. She was paid Rs 15.56 crore for the period 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013. This appears to be marginally higher than Rs 15.45 crore paid to her in FY'12. In FY14, the 78-year old Sahu Jain family matriarch received about Rs 155,257,652 = Rs 15.52 crore.

For three years running (atleast), she appears to have adopted the mantra of India's wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani kept his annual salary capped at Rs. 15 crore for the sixth year in a row even as the remuneration of key executives went up. Mr. Ambani has kept salary, perquisites and allowances and commission at Rs. 15 crore since 2008-09, foregoing almost Rs. 24 crore per annum.

Coming back to Samir Jain , the eldest son of late Ashok Jain. The 60-year old, also the Vice Chairman and MD of BCCL, got good money as well in FY14. Clearly, the brothers struck a pot of gold in 2014, the year which will be remembered for having been the stage for Mr Narendra Modi storming to power at the Centre as PM on the back of the strongest mandate from the public in last 30 years. Many, not just me, feel big media played the role of a second fiddle too well in getting Mr Modi at 7 Race Course Road.

Samir took home Rs 375,142,883 or a staggering Rs 37.51 crore as remuneration. The chief architect of BCCL in 1980s, Samir -- famous for being the more spiritually inclined between the two brothers -- had got Rs 15.17 crore in FY'13 against Rs 14.82 crore in FY'12.

The youngest member of the Jain family Trishla Jain, an artist who held the post of executive director, had received Rs 3 crore in FY'13 compared to Rs 2.8 crore in FY'12. In FY'14, thirty something Trishla got about Rs 2.7 crore. About the same in the previous two years. Eleven years into BCCL, Samir's daughter is said to have played a key role in business development. Trishla resigned from company directorship from March 31, 2014.

Satyen Gajwani, Trishla's husband, got about Rs 51 lakh but this doesnt reflect a full-year's pay.

So, all in all, the Jains got over Rs 100 crore as remuneration from BCCL in the fiscal year that has gone by or about 12 per cent of bottomline. The 'family' was paid about Rs 50 crore in FY'13 or loosely 6.5 per cent of standalone profits. Clearly, the rich haul in 2014 is not just from remuneration. The directors recommended a dividend at the rate of 6 per cent (Rs 17.22 crore) on the paid-up share capital of Rs 286.96 crore. Assuming the promoters i.e. Jains hold 90 per cent of beneficial interest in BCCL, that makes it another Rs 15.5 crore in dividend income.

Growing Inequality

BCCL CEO Ravi Dhariwal has retired. Naturally, his pay this year at Rs 5.57 crore reflects that. For the record, he was paid Rs 11.34 crore in gross remuneration (FY'13) compared to Rs 3.4 crore in the fiscal ended FY'12. Dhariwal had a great stint at BCCL after being with the group for more than a decade. Bharti Retail's chief executive Raj Jain has now taken his place. Hope Jain finds solace in the company of more Jains!

Before delving deeper into this ever-widening salary chasm of non-editorial and editoral guys, lets look at some more numbers. Non-editorially speaking. 49-year old Shrijeet Mishra took home Rs 2.9 crore as COO. He has about 25 years of professional experience.

In FY13, Arunabh Das Sharma, Executive Director & President Response, got Rs 2.92 crore. In FY14, its Rs 3.6 crore for the former Whirlpool hand at BCCL. 22 years of experience including 4 in BCCL. Joy Chakraborty, Director-Response (Response is the prime mover among all other media marketing solution providers in India. It just not the advertising department!) received Rs 2.2 crore. Another Director - Response R Sundar took home Rs 2.64 crore in FY14 compared to Rs 1.84 crore in FY13. These are good hikes at good levels.

Lets look at non-editorial VP level salaries in BCCL. Indira Dinesh, Vice President - Response, got Rs 79.25 lakh in FY14 vs Rs 72.80 lakh in FY13. C G Varughase, Vice President - Response, got Rs 78.65 lakh vs Rs 70.39 lakh. Teena Singh, Vice President - Response, got Rs 73.97 lakh vs Rs 66.42 lakh. Jnan Prakash Dsouza, Vice President - Response, got Rs 72.45 lakh vs 62.01 lakh. VP people are guys with 20-30 years of solid experience.

At AVP levels, which is like above 15 years experience, BCCL executives get about Rs 60-89 lakh a year. For example, Diwakar Dadoo, AVP - Brand Capital, got about RS 64.4 lakh in FY14. Kuldeep G Mantry, AVP - MAS, took home Rs 63.19 lakh. At the higher end of the spectrum is 48-year old Rasesh Pushpabadhan Gandhi who got Rs 89 lakh as AVP Response.  

Among other key BCCL businesses, S Sivakumar, CEO - Brand Capital, received a lower Rs 1.66 crore vs Rs 2.01 crore. Also, Ashok Raparia, Director - Human Resources, got Rs 1.13 crore vs Rs 1.40 crore.

Coming to editorial staff now. Jaideep Bose, 51, (Editorial Director - TOI) got roughly Rs 1.9 crore in FY14 compared to Rs 2.45 crore in FY'13. Bose has spent 22 years in BCCL out of the full 28 in the profession with his last employment being with Ananda Bazar Patrika. Some could say top notch-editorial talent at BCCL didn't even earn Rs 2 crore when the largesse is quite clear from non-editorial salaries. Comparing to verticals like Response, Bose, aka Jojo, got 33 per cent less than Arunabh Das Sharma, Executive Director & President Response.

Next up is Rahul Joshi, Editorial Director - ET. His remuneration was Rs 1.39 crore vs Rs 1.34 crore. Joshi is Economic Times' Jojo in a loose sense of the word although Joshi would despise such comparisons. The salary chasm, as I had referred to earlier, now gets wider. Santosh Ramachandra Menon, Assistant Executive Editor, with 21 years of experience, including 6 in BCCL, earned Rs 69 lakh.

Bodhisatva Ganguly, Deputy Executive Editor, got about Rs 68 lakh. Shailendra Swaroop Bhatnagar (Chief Editor-Markets & Research), apparently responsible for Editorial Content during the Morning Band of ET NOW, earned Rs 92.8 lakh in FY14 vs Rs 86 lakh in FY13. Bhatnagar has 19 years of experience and going by his job description, he handles the time when financial markets are alive. Out of the 81 people BCCL has disclosed remuneration details, only 7 are journalists.

A word on salaries of the ordinary journalist. The Aam Journalist. Always getting the short end of the stick. Why? Because he gets the news, not the ad money.

The salaries of big editors in BCCL are actually huge compared to the little guys who actually make the papers happen day after day. Talk about misplaced priorities, barring a select few top journos, when it comes to salaries. Why peanuts to almost everybody when that aam journalist is actually doing the most work?

The theory of a space seller i.e. marketing guys being more valuable is deeply flawed. That space which gets you easily over a crore is the space where yesterday's headline just became archived material. Nobody remembers a paper or a channel by the ads they show, its the news, It always has been 'the news' and it ain't gonna change soon. The crowd puller or the show stopper is news and the news guys.

The Year 2014 That Just Went By

BCCL had a great year from the looks of it. Total income grew about 10 per cent to Rs 5,659 crore. A ten per cent growth kind of year after a marginal rise in FY13 vis a vis FY12 is actually a lot to cheer for. Out of FY14 revenues, sale of publications accounted for Rs 583.25 crores, television distribution revenue about Rs 21.6 crore and the cash-cow, advertisement revenue was about Rs 4,684 crore.

Key takeaways -- both sale of publications and advertisement revenue grew at about same pace of 8-odd per cent year on year. However, BCCL's focus on space utilisation indicates why its after all more of an advertising firm. There's no harm in it. Almost everybody in the market, is trying to copy that ad-first approach. 

This momentum showed up in profits as well. BCCL's bottomline grew to Rs 821 crore in FY'14 compared to Rs 740 crore in FY'13.  

In the print business, during the year under review, its flagship brand, Times of India achieved an overall growth in circulation. The Newspaper in Education (NIE) segment is said to have registered an impressive growth of over 8 per cent as compared to previous year. Economic Times maintained its market share for Business Dailies. The company took a major step forward in languages through launch of Navbharat Times in Lucknow. This launch is supposed to have opened up a significant

opportunity for NBT in the Hindi heartland. 

Maharashtra Times launched two new editions in Jalgaon and Ahmednagar, further consolidating its position in the Western markets with a total of 8 editions. The company recently launched Nav Gujarat Samay, a general interest daily in Gujarati language in the cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. This launch makes BCCL the only newspaper group to have major publications in 5 Indian languages - Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali and Gujarati. 

In a challenging business environment for Media industry, newspaper advertising spends grew by only 5 per cent as per Group M report 2014, BCCL achieved a growth of 8 per cent. for the year 2013-14. This is because the company pursued a strategy of growth both in volume and yield. 

In the TV segment, BCCL got good 'response' as well. zoOm channel maintained its viewership share while the segment saw lot of competition. The channel continued to grow on the social media networks and became the first Indian TV brand to cross the 7 million mark on Facebook. In April 2013 zoOm launched a new digital channel on YouTube Telly Talk India which has grown to over 2.3 crore views by 31st March 2014. 

During the year under review, ET NOW continued to remain a good choice of viewers in the English Business News category and dominated the genre. On the content and programming front, the channel continued to add newer formats both during weekdays and weekends, even as it strengthened

its core proposition of market-moving stories and superior stock recommendations based on technical analysis. ET NOW also hosted its first-ever India Economic Conclave, which is a national thought leadership platform meant to spotlight and address key economic challenges facing the country. It was well received by all the stakeholders, including the government, industry and civil society.

During the year a new channel Romedy Now was launched on 22nd September 2013. Romedy NOW is a first of its kind Premium English Entertainment Channel ushering Love & Laughter together for the first time on Television. The channel caters to the Urban affluent audiences across all 8 metros and has established its leadership in a span of just 7 months from its launch.

Also, during the year under review, Times Music continued its leadership in Indian Classical, Devotional, Spiritual and Wellness genres with an impressive turnover. 

Comments/critique all welcome.

Images: Have been sourced from the Internet

How Did The Times Group Perform and Pay in FY13

While we read about salaries, corporate performance and company outlooks in the various outlets of the over 175 year old Times Group, let us find out how unlisted BCCL itself paid and did in financial year ended March 2013!

If you are a reader of newspapers or a voracious listener of news on the TV, you must have heard of The Times of India, The Economic Times, Times Now etc. They are the biggest and arguably the best in the country.

Unlisted Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL) is primarily engaged in the business of publication of newspapers. It publishes the highest selling English broadsheet daily in the world, i.e., The Times of India.

Apart from this, the company publishes newspapers like The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times, etc. It also houses television channels zoOm, Times Now and ET Now. BCCL has subsidiaries which are engaged in the areas of internet, e-commerce, radio, television, out of home, etc.

Bennett Coleman And Company Limited (BCCL) has its registered office at Times Of India Bldg, D N Road, Mumbai, Maharashtra. Unlisted companies usually file their annual filings with a delay of 3-12 months.

Profits:

For the year ended March 31, 2013, BCCL reported a net profit of Rs 739.62 crore. This is over 37 per cent higher than Rs 537.32 crore in the year ended 31st March, 2012.

Sales:

For the year ended March 2013, BCCL logged a total revenue of Rs 5,057.52 crore. This is marginally higher than the Rs 4,946.93 crore reported a year ago.

The FY'13 revenue of Rs 5,057.52 crore includes :- 1) Sale of Publications :- Rs 536.78 crores 2) Television Distribution Revenue:- Rs. 9.51 crores 3) Advertisement Revenue :- Rs. 4,190.72 crore.

For every 100 rupees earned in 2012-13, BCCL earned 82 rupees from advertising in FY'13. Also, importantly advertising revenue's share on overall pie came down from 84 rupees (of every 100) in fiscal year 2011-12. About 10 rupees came from sale of publications. This is why possibly many argue that BCCL looks more like an advertising firm.  

The year gone by:

During 2012-13, the company's flagship brand, The Times of India achieved  overall good circulation growth. Four new editions were launched -- Aurangabad, Raipur, Kolhapur and Vizag, thereby extending its reach into new markets.

Circulation of The Economic Times was down compared to last year. Maharashtra Times launched two new editions in Nagpur and Kolhapur.

Navbharat Times remained same as in the previous year.

The company launched an entirely new mast-head in the form of a Bengali paper 'Ei Samay' (Bengali for These Times) in October 2012.

Performance of BCCL subsidiaries:

The company has listed about 50 firms as subsidiaries.

Zoom Entertainment Network Ltd runs the the first TV channel of the group -- zoOm TV (Editor: Omar Qureshi). It posted revenues of Rs 108.64 crore in FY13. It appears to have posted a loss.

Led by CEO Satyan Gajwani Times Internet Ltd operates a portfolio of web and mobile properties that claims to engage millions of users globally. Gajwani happens to be the son-in-law of Samir Jain -- Vice-Chairman & MD of BCCL. Mobile and web are among the company's priorities.

The arm posted a total revenue of Rs 417.91 crore in FY13 and a profit after tax of Rs 116.05 crore -- about 28 per cent net profit margin.

Times Global Broadcasting Company Ltd. It runs TV channels Times Now and ET Now. Posting revenues of Rs 213.9 crore in FY'13, it posted a profit of just Rs 10.73 crore -- barely 5 per cent profit margin.

Also led by Satyen (as per BCCL website), Times Business Solutions runs TimesJobs.com, MagicBricksMagicBricks.com, SimplyMarrySimplyMarry.com and Ads2BookAds2Book.com, among others. It earned revenues of Rs 320.76 crore and a good Rs 59.3 crore net profit -- translating to 18 per cent profit margin.

Another interesting BCCL arm is Brand Equity Treaties Ltd. It is called Brand Capital these days. Basically, its the latest avataar of 'Times Private Treaties' which germinated with the idea of offering advertising for assets. This subsidiary reported revenues of Rs 160.59 crore but its profit after tax was in the negative (Rs 34.97 crore loss).

Salaries:

Now, comes the most important part. BCCL has disclosed pay packet (gross remuneration subject to tax and comprises salary, perquisite, incentives and commission, provident fund, super annuation fund etc) of as many 69 people. Any extra amount paid has not been captured in the figures below.

The highest paid appears Indu Jain, BCCL, Chairperson. She was paid Rs 15.56 crore for the period 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013. This appears to be marginally higher than Rs 15.45 crore paid to her in FY'12.

BCCL VC and MD Samir Jain was paid Rs 15.17 crore in FY'13 against Rs 14.82 crore during 01/04/2011 to 31/03/2012. Next in the pecking order is his brother Vineet Jain who got Rs 14.90 crore in FY'13 compared to Rs 14.57 crore in FY'12.

The youngest member of the Jain family Trishla Jain, an artist, received Rs 3 crore in FY'13 compared to Rs 2.8 crore in FY'12.

Salary details of Satyen, Trishla's husband, could not be accessed.

So, all in all, the 'family' in BCCL was paid about Rs 48 crore in FY13 as remuneration. This would be about 6.5 per cent of annual profits.

BCCL Executive Director and CEO Ravindra Dhariwal was paid Rs 11.34 crore in gross remuneration (FY'13) compared to Rs 3.4 crore in the fiscal ended FY'12. This easily translates to a whopping an over 3-fold pay jump. Some say this jump could be because Dhariwal was paid bonus etc in FY13 that was missing in FY12 when the company's total profit had slumped about 42 per cent year-on-year.

Next, we will look into salaries of other key staff. Readers are requested to excuse my inability to get previous year compensation details.

On the editorial side, gross remuneration of Arindam Sengupta (Executive Editor - TOI), Jaideep Bose (Editorial Director - TOI), Rahul Joshi (Editorial Director - ET), Santosh Ramachandra Menon (Associate Editor), Nikunj Dalmia (Senior Editor), R. Sridharan (Executive Editor) and Shailendra Swaroop Bhatnagar (Chief Editor-Markets & Research) are mentioned.

Sengupta, who is known to have played the role of a deputy to Jojo aka Jaideep Bose with elan, was paid the princely sum of  Rs 10,833,280.94 (Rs 1.08 crore)  in FY'13. On the other hand, Jojo was paid Rs 2.45 crore.

ET's Joshi got Rs 1.34 crore, Menon received Rs 62.07 lakh, Dalmia (Senior Stocks Editor at ET Now) Rs 97.42 lakh, Sridharan (Executive Editor News & Trends, ET Now) Rs 90.08 lakh and Bhatnagar (responsible for Editorial Content during the Morning Band of ET NOW) Rs 85.90 lakh.

Salary details of Arnab Goswami -- Editor-in-Chief and News anchor of the Indian news channel Times Now -- could not be accessed. So, enlightened readers are requested to share the data :)

Read more on previous years' employee costs here and finances here.

'Response':

Let us look at FY13 salaries of key Times Response staff. 'Response', as many of you would be knowing, is the prime mover among all other media marketing solution providers in India. It just not the advertising department!

Arunabh Das Sharma, Executive Director & President Response, got Rs 2.92 crore. Nandan Srinath, Director - Response, got Rs 2.02 crore.  R Sundar, Director - Response, got Rs  1.84 crore. C R Srinivasan, Director - Response, got Rs 1.29 crore. Ranjeet Kate, Director - Response, got Rs 1.17 crore.

Indira Diesh, Vice President - Response, got Rs 72.80 lakh. C G Varughase, Vice President - Response, got Rs 70.39 lakh. Teena Singh, Vice President - Response, got Rs 66.42 lakh. Jnan Prakash Dsouza, Vice President - Response, got Rs 62.01 lakh.

Among other key BCCL businesses, S Sivakumar, CEO - Brand Capital, received Rs 2.01 crore. Ashok Raparia, Director - Human Resources, got Rs 1.40 crore.

Finances:

This section has been deliberately kept for the last. For those interested in how BCCL manages its finances, I am giving you a simple snapshot. BCCL's assets stood at Rs 8750.81 crore at the end of FY'13 compared to Rs 7758.72 crore in FY'12 end.

The Rs 8750.81 crore assets comprise Rs 2,393.67 crore total current assets and Rs 6,357.14 total non-current assets.

Non-current investments: Let us also look at the list of companies where BCCL, publisher of ToI and ET among others, holds shares. Some of these investments would clearly be via  private treaties.

At the end of March 31, 2013, the list of companies where BCCL held equity stakes was Aksh Optifibre Ltd., Allied Digital Services Ltd., Aqua Logistics Ltd., Austral Coke & Projects Ltd., Avesthagen, Bang Overseas Ltd., Bhagyanagar India Ltd., Birla Cotsyn India Ltd., Birla Pacific Medspa Ltd., Birla Power Solutions Ltd., Bloom Dekor Ltd., Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd., Celebrity Fashions Ltd., Coffee day Resorts Pvt. Ltd., Eco Recycling Ltd., Eveready Industries India Ltd., Flawless Diamond (India) Ltd., Fortis Healthcare Ltd., Future Markets Networks Ltd.(Agre Developers Ltd.), Future Venture India Ltd, Gitanjali Gems Ltd., GMR Infrastructure Ltd., GSS America Infotech Ltd., GTL Infrastructure Ltd., Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd., Himalaya International Ltd., Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Indian Terrain Fashions Ltd., IOL Netcom Ltd., IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd., Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd., Jagran Prakashan Ltd., Jaypee Infratech Ltd., JVL Agro Industries Ltd., Karuturi Global Ltd., Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., KSL & Industries Ltd., Lok Housing & Constructions Ltd., Marg Ltd., Micro Technologies (India) Ltd., (India) Ltd., Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd., MVL Industries Ltd., MVL Ltd., Net 4 India Ltd., Next Mediaworks Ltd.(Midday Multimedia Ltd.), NIIT Ltd., NIIT Technologies Ltd., OK Play India Ltd, Pantaloon Retail (India), Provogue (India) Ltd, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd., Raj Oil Mills Ltd., Ritesh Properties & Industries Ltd., Sahara One Media & Entertainment Ltd., Sobha Developers Ltd., SQL Star International Ltd., SRS Ltd., Sujana Universal Industries Ltd., Teledata Informatics Ltd., Teledata Marine Solutions Ltd., Teledata Technologies Solutions Ltd., The Sandesh Ltd., Thomas Scott Ltd., Timbor Home Ltd., Today's Writing Products Ltd., Videocon Industries Ltd, Zicom Electronic Security Systems Ltd., Press Trust of India Ltd. and United News of India Ltd, among numerous others.

Shareholding:

Shareholders who hold more than 5 per cent equity of BCCL are Bharat Nidhi Limited (18.02 per cent), Ashoka Viniyoga Limited (5.96%), Camac Commercial Co. Limited (9.75%), Sanmati Properties Limited (24.41%), Arth Udyog Limited (9.31%), PNB Finance & Industries Limited (13.3%), Jacaranda Corporate Services Limited (9.29%) and TM Investments Limited (8.93%). These entities hold 98.97 per cent of BCCL.

As always, feel free to drop your comments/criticism/praise in the "Comment" section below. Till the next time.

Would try to write a post on FY14 BCCL performance soon.

Disclaimer: I worked for The Times of India at Chennai for a year in 2008-09 when the global financial crisis, triggered by Lehman Brothers, hit Indian shores hard.

Images: Sourced from the Internet. If anybody has any objection to use, please notify and it/they will be removed within 24 hours.