Smart People

SMART EYE

Prannoy Roy, who packages news everyday for a nation as head of NDTV, one of India's leading news channels, hates being in the news himself.

He once skipped a reception arranged by Moet-Hennessy, the world's most famous champagne maker, to honour him - just to avoid media glare! He is an aberration among desi celebrities who grab every second chance to hog the limelight.

However, last week, Roy was in the news against his preference, though for a different reason - NDTV made its initial public offering of Rs 109 crore.

In a market where company managements normally do road-shows for a week to 10 days, Roy did it all in a single day - back-to-back meetings with institutional buyers, a press conference and an analysts' meet.

The escape route, of course, was his busy schedule ahead of elections. Investors dare not complain knowing that election analysis is the foundation of NDTV's edifice.

Elections results have been Roy's strongest passion since childhood. He produced his first election forecast in 1977, predicting the Janata Party's victory for Mainstream magazine.

Seven years later, his prediction of 400 seats for the Congress against the actual figure of 402 in the 1984 elections transformed him to India's most successful psephologist. Roy had all it takes - knowledge of economics and accounting and great communications skills. "Elections are a good business. I don't like politicians, I like the election process," he once said.

Here is the lesser known side of Prannoy: The son of an English mother and a Bengali father who served as a senior executive with a multinational corporation in Calcutta, Prannoy Roy grew up against a typical upper-class social and educational ambiance - Doon School, Haileybury College, a degree in economics from London School of Economics and chartered accountancy.

After coming back from England, Roy did a Ph.D in agricultural economics at Delhi School of Economics and worked for a while as a reader at DSE. His suave looks and mild demeanour had all the girls flocking to his lectures, but then he chose to date with an Indian Express reporter. Roy and Radhika were known to be among the happiest couples in town then, recalls one of their old-time friends. Between 1985 and 1987 Roy worked for the ministry of finance as economic advisor.

Roy started his television career by doing election analysis for Doordarshan, followed by 'The World this Week' and an half-an-hour daily news programme.

In 1997, he was lured to shift his daily news show to Star TV. Later when Star TV decided to launch a 24-hour news channel, he was asked to head it. In 1998 Roy signed a five-year content contract with Star TV for a whopping Rs 50 crore annual fee. In 2003, NDTV launched its own news channels.

How does it feel to be on the other side of the table taking questions rather than asking. "Ooops! I would any day prefer asking questions! This is the first and the last time I am going to accept any restrictions in my life," Roy says, referring to the numerous restrictions laid out by Sebi on the managements of companies while their public offers are on.

After all, observing silent periods is not his thing. For someone who takes on the role of a mouthpiece for the public, curtailing freedom of speech is sacrilege. Ha! Roy will have to observe many more silent periods and accept lot more restrictions once his company is listed at the bourses.

Roy relishes the finer things that accomplished men enjoy. He plays golf, drives a Mercedes, loves single malt whisky, munches imported biscuits, never walks in to office before 4 pm and chills out in his farm house three days a fortnight. Called 'doc' by folks in NDTV, he is known to be great person to work with. At, 54, Roy rocks!