Raghav Bahl - the original media baron!

Sad to see Raghav Bahl sign off from the group he built from scratch. While Prannoy Roy was part of our growing interest in media, Raghav Bahl made the progressive jumps in media's leaps in technology. He was a chatty host for a programme called "Newstrack" produced by India Today magazine. My parents and I used to wait for editions of "Newstrack" every fortnight - it had the most comprehensive coverage of the newsmakers of that time and of course, the most candid interviews. I still remember Amitabh Bachchan's best interview till date was from "Newstrack".

As a lead anchor, Raghav Bahl was an original - chatty, witty, intelligent and full of beaming smiles - always talking in an accent that even Chaiwaalahs and butlers will understand. The program was such a smash hit that video parlours were ordering multiple copies and there used to be commotion to watch it first in households. It was a watch-per-your-convenience alternative to the other interesting programme of the 1980s - "The World this Week". Raghav Bahl then ventured into TV 18 - that made history by tying up with CNBC.

Those were the days of only three pink papers and one white paper -and the idea of a business channel itself was revolutionary. Raghav Bahl did it again with unconventional guys leading the commentaries and anchorage - Paronjoy Guha Thakurta and Senthil Chengalvaranarayan were the prime poster-boys. Paronjoy still asks questions longer than what anybody can give answers to and Senthil - he still looks like a boy who just topped the IIT entrance but stammering to speak fluent English. Over the years, the network grew. I still remember the wealth-creation opportunity Raghav Bahl gave us in 1999-2000. I was working in HDFC Bank heading the Loans Against Securities division. TV18 came out with an IPO and I had a brief to do IPO-financing to investors. The IPO season itself was getting dizzy with the successes of Polaris, Glenmark and Hughes Software. It was the middle of the dotcom era where TMT (Technology, Media and Telecom)  stocks were the darlings of the market. Previously, Polaris Software created a record for post-listing performance. But TV18  - how do you value it? How can you be so sure? I put my my money where my mouth is - I beseeched my parents also to put multiple applications. I persuaded all my customers at HDFC Bank to plonk their savings into TV18 IPO. Total applications  collected 2150 from Hyderabad. The IPO listed like a Godzilla - it soared 700 per cent upwards. Raghav Bahl created a jackpot for investors. Very few could retain the shares even for few years after the IPO because it was running up and away, defying gravity. The dotcom burst finally, stock tumbled but the group still bludgeoned in its many manifestations and forays into new businesses - moneycontrol.com, film distribution, financial literacy books, etc.

Nobody in contemporary Indian mediascape has harnessed the power of media in all its unleashing of the many Avatars - Raghav Bahl rode all of them. He was there in every wave of the media business from VHS cassettes to Digitalisation of cables. He  created a great team, led from the front, raised equity from the market,  shared his wealth with the public and the employees and always happy to step back (even giving up controlling stake) when a stronger partner stepped in - like Viacom. Network18 hit the lows too - when credibility suffered as the CNBC channel in India nose-dived, the ownership of the channel fell into the cartels of stock brokers, and now lies in the hands of India's most hated businessman. Whatever Raghav Bahl achieved so far, warts and all, he deserves a special mention in the history of Indian media. He proved again and again with his foresight and enterprise that he can bounce back.  Raghav Bahl, in my mind, is the holy trinity of Indian media that every student of its history will admire - the other two being, Prannoy Roy and Ronnie Screwala.

Shankar Sharma's Special Appearances

If I am starved of entertainment during the day, and work demands a break, I tune in to these business channels where anchors and talking heads get paid to talk. The most amusing speaker according to me is Shankar Sharma - he is the Indian equivalent of a Dr.Doom or a human incarnation of a Nomura Securities. I was tuning in the other day, when Shankar Sharma was on one channel. It was irresistabl...e and irascible as usual. He says (and I paraphrase): "Inflation is not in our hands and only Growth is in our hands and yet RBI Governor has continued raising interest rates even at the cost of sacrificing growth. This 1930s thinking to monetary policy has to change.And hence the market will fall by 2500 points." Or something to that effect. Does he know what he is talking about? I am not concerned if and whether the markets will fall by 2500 points as market panics seldom have reason. But I am aghast at his knowledge of economics (as it is most people who are experts have got zero knowledge of economics but thats another matter) and impact on India. He should realise that India is not a small economy like Zimbabwe or Argentina which can afford hyperinflation. There will be issues - social and civil if ground inflation reaches a critical stage and we just can't afford it. There will be issues, he should know, with currency if Rupee touches 60 to a dollar and nobody will allow borrowing against your currency. So, RBI and its legacy of governors from Rangarajan to Jalan to Reddy to Subba Rao are well in their groove to know whats right for the country. I am a beneficiary of capital markets but that doesn't mean the country is less important than stock markets. People like Shankar Sharma who have this foot-in-the-mouth disease and self-righteousness can only make special appearances when the markets are already punished 25 per cent - so they can make more money for jam by going short on the market which is already in panic mode. Discerning viewers and investors will know who comes in when. Coming back to the currency and RBI's policy, now that China has cut interest rates and we have already raised 365 basis points since the last cut - RBI has got every trick in its sleeve to cut to grow. We don't need traders barred by SEBI to tell RBI what to do. RBI's Central Governors can rank amongst the best Governors in the world - they are not just here to sign one rupee notes; they are here to make sure the rupee note is honored by the rest of the world as well and retains the face value they sign on.