Best of the week: On certain difficulties

Dear Reader,

One of my favourite comments by Dr. Manmohan Singh is from a speech he gave on 24 March 2006 on the launch of the Amritsar-Nankhana Sahib bus service, which briefly connected two holy Sikh towns across the India-Pakistan border: “I have often said that borders cannot be redrawn but we can work towards making them irrelevant—towards making them just lines on a map.” (Full speech here for those interested.)

For a brief period, this philosophy formed the core of India’s policy towards Pakistan.

Looking back at our late prime minister’s astonishing life trajectory, it was no surprise that this was a maxim he adopted and advocated. Singh was on the receiving end of many challenges he had no control over. A Sikh who survived the reality of partition as a 15-year-old from a poor household, he went on to achieve outstanding scholarship throughout his academic life as well as through public service.

Whatever his flaws, Singh embodied the possibility of how overcoming situations we have no control over can make us not just stronger but also kinder, more decent, and, in the case of Singh, more alive to the challenges of his constituents.

I’ve always thought that this particular quote from Singh could be applied to multiple situations—if we cannot redraw a challenge, we can strive towards making them irrelevant.

Singh had many admirers and detractors, and scholars will over time parse his body of work, decisions, and influence on Indian polity minutely.

Mint has begun contributing towards this effort. To begin with, read this piece by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Mint’s former executive editor, on Manmohan Singh.

Also worth your time is this essay that Singh wrote for Mint’s inaugural edition on 1 February 2007, published under the title “Our problems are internal”.

Dr Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister from 2004-2014, passed away on 26 December 2024 at the age of 92.

On to Mint’s Best of the week:

👉 Billionaire investor and D-Mart promoter Radhakishan Damani opposed the candidate for chairmanship proposed by British American Tobacco (BAT) for its Indian unit VST Industries Ltd, leading to his rejection at a shareholder vote, according to voting disclosures and an executive privy to the development. Mint’s ace reporters Varun Sood and Nehal Chaliawala reported on this development. 

👉 Sood and Chaliawala also reported on how proxy advisors have advised Religare Enterprises’ shareholders to vote against the reappointment of its chairperson Rashmi Saluja. Mint’s readers are more likely to be fully aware of Religare’s backstory—which has never lacked drama. Before the current dispensation, it was controlled by the infamous Singh brothers of Ranbaxy Laboratories. This current episode can be traced back to 25 September of 2023, when the Burman family of the Dabur group acquired over 25% stake in Religare, enough under Indian law to launch an open offer to take control of the company. Burmans, however, found the Religare management hostile to the bid. In the latest development, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed the Reserve Bank of India’s approval for the open offer by the Burman family as well as Religare’s annual general meeting that was scheduled for 31 December. This could be perceived as a reprieve to Saluja and a setback for the Burmans. Read this piece by Mint’s Neha Joshi.

👉 Joshi and Mint’s startup Samiksha Goel reporter teamed up to write a piece on how retail investors have been swayed by unlisted securities despite Sebi’s misgivings. Lured by the promise of outsized returns, early access to high-growth companies, and lower fees, retail investors are venturing into the unregulated and risky world of unlisted securities in droves. Sebi has issued two advisories in the last two months to indicate its anxieties. 

👉 We are also rapidly approaching the end of 2024. As is customary, our journalists have reviewed the year across sectors for Mint readers. A key trend this year was the amount of money that went into housing finance companies. Mint’s Priyamvada C reported that India’s housing finance sector saw a tenfold jump in primary fundraising in 2024, as venture capital and private equity firms sought to diversify their portfolios with assets perceived as relatively less risky.

👉 India hosted back-to-back high-profile music concerts this year, which, unfortunately, has put the spotlight on some unsavoury experiences. The good news? Indians are splurging on concerts, shelling out up to ₹35,000 for top-tier tickets to experience live performances by A-listers like Coldplay and Ed Sheeran, according to Mint reporters Pratishtha Bajpai and Lata Jha. However, India’s concert infrastructure is struggling to keep pace with demand. Read more about this here.

👉 On a more positive note, Jha captures a niche trend. Small-scale Hollywood films such as the Tom Hanks-starrer Here and Michael Keaton’s comedy Goodrich have seen reasonable box-office success in India, buoyed by premium pricing, despite the noise around steep ticket prices deterring footfalls at theatres, Jha writes. Could this become more widespread in 2025? 

👉 Speaking of films, Aditya Shrikrishna evaluates films from the southern India in 2024. Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and to a lesser extent Kannada cinema have usurped the homogeneity of Hindi cinema in popular culture, he says. But big-budget films from the south often disappointed in 2024. However, there was a wider range of stories and progress that came through, he says. 

That is all from me this week. I hope this email has set you up with enough food for thought over the weekend. On behalf of Mint, compliments of the season and wish you a fulfilling New Year 2025.

Best regards,

Ranjani Raghavan

Editor-Startups and Deals

Mint

Mumbai