The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time

Memoir of one of India's most prominent businessmen


The pioneer who gate-crashed his way to the top Subhash Chandra, the promoter of Essel/ Zee Group, is an unlikely mogul. Hailing from a small town in Haryana, where his family ran grain mills, Chandra has been a perennial outsider, repeatedly aiming high and breaking into businesses where he was considered an interloper. Starting work as a teen to pay off family debts, Chandra had to rely on bluff, gumption and sheer hard toil to turn things around. A little bit of luck and political patronage saw him make a fortune in rice exports to the erstwhile USSR. Always a risk-taker, Chandra then had the vision of getting into broadcasting early, even as established media players failed to see its potential. His Zee TV, India's first private Indian TV channel, changed the rules of the game and tickled the fancy of a public starved of entertainment. Several gutsy initiatives followed, though not all of them were successful. Chandra's attempts to launch satellite telephony and a cricket league came a cropper. But the man continues to reinvent himself; he is now also focusing on infrastructure and smart cities. This is an unusually candid memoir of a truly desi self-made businessman who came to Delhi at age twenty with seventeen rupees in his pocket. Today, he has a net worth of $6.3 billion and annual group revenues of about $3 billion.
1123722454
The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time

Memoir of one of India's most prominent businessmen


The pioneer who gate-crashed his way to the top Subhash Chandra, the promoter of Essel/ Zee Group, is an unlikely mogul. Hailing from a small town in Haryana, where his family ran grain mills, Chandra has been a perennial outsider, repeatedly aiming high and breaking into businesses where he was considered an interloper. Starting work as a teen to pay off family debts, Chandra had to rely on bluff, gumption and sheer hard toil to turn things around. A little bit of luck and political patronage saw him make a fortune in rice exports to the erstwhile USSR. Always a risk-taker, Chandra then had the vision of getting into broadcasting early, even as established media players failed to see its potential. His Zee TV, India's first private Indian TV channel, changed the rules of the game and tickled the fancy of a public starved of entertainment. Several gutsy initiatives followed, though not all of them were successful. Chandra's attempts to launch satellite telephony and a cricket league came a cropper. But the man continues to reinvent himself; he is now also focusing on infrastructure and smart cities. This is an unusually candid memoir of a truly desi self-made businessman who came to Delhi at age twenty with seventeen rupees in his pocket. Today, he has a net worth of $6.3 billion and annual group revenues of about $3 billion.
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The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time

The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time

The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time

The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time

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Overview

Memoir of one of India's most prominent businessmen


The pioneer who gate-crashed his way to the top Subhash Chandra, the promoter of Essel/ Zee Group, is an unlikely mogul. Hailing from a small town in Haryana, where his family ran grain mills, Chandra has been a perennial outsider, repeatedly aiming high and breaking into businesses where he was considered an interloper. Starting work as a teen to pay off family debts, Chandra had to rely on bluff, gumption and sheer hard toil to turn things around. A little bit of luck and political patronage saw him make a fortune in rice exports to the erstwhile USSR. Always a risk-taker, Chandra then had the vision of getting into broadcasting early, even as established media players failed to see its potential. His Zee TV, India's first private Indian TV channel, changed the rules of the game and tickled the fancy of a public starved of entertainment. Several gutsy initiatives followed, though not all of them were successful. Chandra's attempts to launch satellite telephony and a cricket league came a cropper. But the man continues to reinvent himself; he is now also focusing on infrastructure and smart cities. This is an unusually candid memoir of a truly desi self-made businessman who came to Delhi at age twenty with seventeen rupees in his pocket. Today, he has a net worth of $6.3 billion and annual group revenues of about $3 billion.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9789351773252
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 01/10/2016
Sold by: HARPERCOLLINS
Format: eBook
Pages: 296
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Subhash Chandra is the promoter of Essel/Zee Group of companies, which is a major player in the fields of media and entertainment, packaging, technology, infrastructure and education. Since 2016, he is also a Rajya Sabha MP. Pranjal Sharma has been in print, digital and TV media for twenty-five years. He has led teams at India Today Group and CNBC Network 18, and was founding executive editor of Bloomberg TV in India.

Pranjal Sharma is an economic analyst and writes on technology, globalization and inclusive growth. He is an adviser to boards and international organizations. A former head of Bloomberg TV in India, he has been a speaker at various fora in Europe, Asia and Africa. The Next New is his third book on technology-led transformations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Preface xi

Family Tree xiv

1 Small Beginnings 1

Three brothers set up a market

2 A Crisis in the Family 19

I start work as a teen to pay off debt

3 Thinking Out of the Box 31

Convincing FCI to adopt a new process

4 Young Man on the Make 39

Living off bluff, bluster and gumption

5 Between the Sheets 50

Or how my hair turned grey overnight

6 Diversifying Into Packaging 61

Acchey din arrive as I spread my wings

7 Pole-Vaulting to a Higher Plane 65

I take a risk but get cheated…again.'

8 The Russians are Coming 75

A Swamiji, the Gandhis, and a very big deal

9 Of Rice…and Avarice 87

The Soviets smell something fishy about basmati!

10 A Late-Night Meeting With Mrs G 97

Feeling like an ant in a fight between elephants

11 Good Things Come in Small Packages 105

After teething troubles, we hit pay dirt

12 A Rough Roller-Coaster Ride 113

Some people in government are not amused

13 Broadcasting My Intentions… 119

…but no one takes me seriously

14 The $5 Million Gamble 126

Despite an incredible offer, I am still the last choice!

15 It's Showtime, Folks! 138

A quiet launch but a new approach to producing shows

16 Who Will Manage the Managers 154

Renewing teams to keep up the pace

17 The Newsroom 161

A change in my profile as I get into current affairs

18 A Rocky Partnership 175

Dealing with Mr Murdoch-ally and rival both

19 Setting my House in Order 191

A family division…and a Tehelka sting

20 Friends and Enemies 201

Taking on the Ambanis… reluctantly

21 Losing $6 Billion… 206

…as Zee's stock skyrockets, then crashes

22 It's Not Cricket 211

TV rights…and wrongs…and a controlling board

23 Calming Influences 222

Vipassana brings peace…but turmoil, too

24 The Art of Management 237

Staying focused on the present

25 A Satellite Project Runs Aground 247

Losing big time in a high stakes game

26 Stabbed in the Back 257

Steeling myself as the system turns against me

27 New Horizons 265

Leaving the road to success

Epilogue 271

Appendices 273

Index 275

About the Authors 281

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