Smart People

, who recently assumed office as the managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Securities (I-Sec), is gung-ho about forthcoming opportunities for mergers and acquisitions in Indian capital markets.

He is busy right now identifying potential M&A candidates. "There is a need to consolidate capacities in the manufacturing sector," he says. But are we ready for such consolidations? Mukherjee admits that promoter ownership is a major constraint.

The Indian capital markets still need a large influx of equity and there is enough capacity to absorb many more ONGCs and GAILs. The manufacturing sector, he says, is beginning to look up with many domestic companies slotted among the best globally.

"What we lack is equity and global presence," he adds. This can be achieved through a slew of IPOs, M&As and debt syndications.

Mukherjee passed out of Mumbai's St Xavier's College where he did his graduation in economics - his classmates include Farooq Sheikh and Pankaj Udhas.

He then acquired his management degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute and later an M Sc in economics from the London School of Economics. Armed with these degrees, he joined ICICI in 1978 as project officer.

"The first five-six years at ICICI were a formative period for me as I got a lot of freedom, quality exposure and a good culture to work. It was a tremendous learning experience," he reminisces.

This was probably why he was never tempted to leave the organisation. The long stint with ICICI has seen him handling varied responsibilities. He proudly recalls how he and his team set up ICICI's Kolkata operations from scratch.

"I am sold to the outdoors," he quips when asked about his hobbies. He is a compulsive trekker and has journeyed to Ladakh, the Everest base camp, Kailash Manasarovar and the Sahyadris.

Mukherjee, who doesn't miss his early morning jogs, also participated in the Mumbai Marathon recently. An avid golfer, he does yoga and meditation.

A vegetarian and teetotaller, he is an aberration among fish-loving Bengalis. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, a daughter who is pursuing law and a son who studies at Doon School.

John Weste, managing vice-president (strategic industry solutions), Gartner, has forecast huge consolidations in the Indian banking sector.

In its first BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) summit, Gartner revealed that in the next seven to 10 years, after enormous rounds of M&As, Indian banks will own only 72 per cent of domestic banking business (92 per cent currently) and the rest will be hogged by foreign banks.

"India is among the top four best financial services countries," says Weste, who frequents the country. He sees no reason why Indian banks cannot grow further.

He acknowledges that Indian banks have an appetite for technology. "Appetite for technology is fine. Whether it's deployed in the right places is the question," says Weste.

Indian banks have to increase efficiencies in process and operations, he stresses. "The constraint, however, is the migration of talented people and the levels of government ownership," he adds.

Banks can easily double their profits once the government holding reduces to zero. This, however, does not mean the government will make less money because higher profits will translate to higher taxes.

Consolidation seems to be a must for domestic banks and with foreign banks keen to enter Indian markets, they have to gear up to meet global challenges. Going global does not mean setting up branches abroad but acquiring banks abroad. "SBI can be the next Standard Chartered," he says.

Weste, 45, who is a graduate in science, went on to do a masters in insurance from Adelaide University. After working for a few years, he completed his MBA from the Melbourne Business School.

Since then there has been no stopping for this consultant - First Accenture and National Australian Bank followed by Arthur Andersen, where he spent seven years, before Gartner happened in 2000.

The favourite pastimes of this inquisitive extrovert (as he describes himself) include golfing, snow skiing, horse-racing and tennis. Based in Melbourne, he also enjoys doing charity work for children of broken families.