SPOTLIGHT

With the redevelopment of Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, very much in the news, Godrej Properties has entered into a joint venture with engineering and construction giant Larsen and Toubro Limited to put in its bid for redevelopment, states The Economic Times, September 14. The company plans to bid for all five sectors of the 500 acre, 57,000 tenement slum, though selected companies will get only one sector to develop, with the project expected to generate a bonanza for the developers and the Maharashtra government, the paper adds. Godrej Properties is slated to become one of the leading arms of the Godrej Group.

Chairperson Me-her Pudumjee: leadership culture

Poona-based Thermax Limited, a global solution provider in energy and environment which is currently putting two new units (in Gujarat and China) on its manufacturing map, is ranked at No 6 on the list of companies in India identified as Top Companies for Leaders — 2007. A survey by Hewitt Associates (an internationally renowned human resources services company) in partnership with The RBL Group and Fortune magazine ranks Thermax in the Indian list one slot below Tata Consultancy Services, which finds a place also in the Asia-Pacific region table at No 7, below heavyweight corporates like Hindustan Unilever, Infosys Technologies, ICICI Bank, Wipro, etc. The companies are commended for making leadership "a critical part of the company’s organizational fabric.” The criteria for selection included "leadership practices, company reputation, leadership culture and values and business performance,” notes Hewitt Associates’ website.

The UK-based Cobra Beer, founded by non-resident entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria, is planning a major expansion in India with the acquisition of an existing brewery and the building of a new one. "Talks are currently at an advanced stage… and once the acquisition process is over we will upgrade it to our specifications,” Bilimoria told the Press Trust of India, as reported by The Economic Times, September 17.