Warren Buffett may not be second-richest man on the planet but he has enough Ekalavya followers in India from RaamDeo Agarwal to Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and from Nilesh Shah to Prashant Jain. Not surprising his visit beginning today is generating blitzkreig publicity. Whatever he says - markets will gyrate in India interpreting madly like Wall Street. I hear people are getting re-born again to get themselves insured with Berkshire Insurance, some are buying hatchbacks to get new cars insured by Berkshire Insurance to grab a seat to hear the Sage of Omaha speak.
The demand for Buffett's books has always been good in India and I hear that sales of "The Collected Essays of Warren Buffett" has hit a four-year high in the last one month from publishers - a sign that Billionaires in India invited by the CII are ready to hear them so they can cut loose with their cheque books. But I guess many of them may be unfamiliar with Warren Buffett's methods of rewarding shareholders and transparency. Now, Buffett is going to talk about Charity (which already began at home for him and Gates) to Indian Billionaires. But I guess this is going to be a signature event - Indian Billionaires have made it big only in the last two decades after unshackling of the license Raj system. Its only now they are smelling the coffee - so to talk about pledging billions is not going to appeal to many. They will say they are generating employment already which has lifted many out of poverty. Besides, we have Tatas and Birlas used to doing philanthrophy in their own way - unassumingly and consistently. We must remember that Gates and Buffett have been icons of American capitalism who started pledging their billions only in the late nineties after decades of unbridled expansion and ambition. Indian businessesmen, on the other hand, do charity when they are growing as well - so this talk about cajoling them to pledge their millions is not impressive. At the end of Buffett's visit, I will not be surprised if a few more billion dollar deals are announced.
What is important, however, is that Buffett may be pleasantly surprised by the verve and vibrancy in the corridors of Indian Business, Polity and Parliament - if they keep their best foot forward as always happen. Buffett is himself a rank opportunist and he may not give anything away before he takes away more from India. In his annual letter to shareholders in 2011, I read that he was hopeful there will be no major catastrophe that will eat into his Reinsurance profits - and bingo, you had Japan catgastrophe which will nibble away some of the profits in Munich Re and other companies. He has never taken any exposure to India so far in underwriting of risk - so he and Ajit Jain, colleague are meeting IRDA chief J Harinarayan to assess whether Risk in India is profitable. Ask Indian businessmen on Risk, they can talk to Buffett on profiting from Risks here till the cows come home.
The demand for Buffett's books has always been good in India and I hear that sales of "The Collected Essays of Warren Buffett" has hit a four-year high in the last one month from publishers - a sign that Billionaires in India invited by the CII are ready to hear them so they can cut loose with their cheque books. But I guess many of them may be unfamiliar with Warren Buffett's methods of rewarding shareholders and transparency. Now, Buffett is going to talk about Charity (which already began at home for him and Gates) to Indian Billionaires. But I guess this is going to be a signature event - Indian Billionaires have made it big only in the last two decades after unshackling of the license Raj system. Its only now they are smelling the coffee - so to talk about pledging billions is not going to appeal to many. They will say they are generating employment already which has lifted many out of poverty. Besides, we have Tatas and Birlas used to doing philanthrophy in their own way - unassumingly and consistently. We must remember that Gates and Buffett have been icons of American capitalism who started pledging their billions only in the late nineties after decades of unbridled expansion and ambition. Indian businessesmen, on the other hand, do charity when they are growing as well - so this talk about cajoling them to pledge their millions is not impressive. At the end of Buffett's visit, I will not be surprised if a few more billion dollar deals are announced.
What is important, however, is that Buffett may be pleasantly surprised by the verve and vibrancy in the corridors of Indian Business, Polity and Parliament - if they keep their best foot forward as always happen. Buffett is himself a rank opportunist and he may not give anything away before he takes away more from India. In his annual letter to shareholders in 2011, I read that he was hopeful there will be no major catastrophe that will eat into his Reinsurance profits - and bingo, you had Japan catgastrophe which will nibble away some of the profits in Munich Re and other companies. He has never taken any exposure to India so far in underwriting of risk - so he and Ajit Jain, colleague are meeting IRDA chief J Harinarayan to assess whether Risk in India is profitable. Ask Indian businessmen on Risk, they can talk to Buffett on profiting from Risks here till the cows come home.
