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The Vijay Mallya Chat

Mr Mallya is having trouble with his browser and is reconnecting. He will be joining us shortly. Please bear with us.

what is happening?

Mr Mallya is loging in from San Fransisco and lost his browser connection. But he will be with us in a minute. We apologise for the delay and request you to bear with us.

Mr. Mallya, Are you there?

By the way how do you manage your company? Is it 'bottom up' or 'top down'?Do you delegate authority and encourage empolyees to think for themself? What is the management structure like? Is your management style heirarchial?Are you surrounded by 'yes' men or people who think for themselves who can communicate freely without fear.

Mr. Mallya:I'm convinced auto sports has a great future in India. I'm convinced you are the person who can make it happen. I'm convinced the current bunch at FMSCI mislead you. I'm convinced I bear you no,illwill (My children play with Kabir & Laila, for a fact, and who there4 can be more honest than me) But you have to do smethig now, like yesterday, for motor sports in India. WHAT WILLYOU DO, SIR???? Honestly, please??

Mr Mallya, you are known to participate in car racing, but pardon me for saying that your speed on the Internet Grand Prix circuit so slow. Or is Rediff to blame

Guess this is what they meant when they played the San Francisco hustle?

Thank you for your patience everyone, I am back.

Mr. Mallya R u there???

Mr. Mallya R u there???

Mr Mallya, we will wait here all night for you.

Mr. Mallya R u there???

Mr Mallya, Stop using MS IE3 and get a copy of Navigator!

I know you inherited the company from your father, what have you done since you have taken the helm? What are your acheivements? How is your management style differ from that of your dad?

What was the main reason for expanding ur business into other areas like computers,...?

Mr. Mallya Having achieved so much at fairly such a young age, what are you planning to do next

REDIFF:We will 'bear' with you but wud mr. Mallya consider sending all of us in dry Haryana a 'beer' to keep things moving and well lubricated? Will he see all the previous questions or are they lost in the ether?

Vijay- I have been asking questions all day long. hope you will answer at least one. How about the fiasco in Dubai?

Whats going on??? You haven't replied to back

How did ur employees feel after u took over ur company after ur fathers demise?

How is the 'prohibition' in AP,Haryana,etc affecting your sales?

I just walked in, is Mr. VM in?

Mr. Mallya:Incase we lose you again, all of us here from Performance Cars Racing Trust in Delhi wish you a good chat and a great life. We have taken time out from our rally preparation to log on here (and it is tough...)Do you have a message for the competitors? This year we have a 5 km river bed section and shall name it after you....BED....get it? with cheers from the motor sports fraternity in Delhi/North India/India but straighten out this FMSCI...standing bye...

Sorry to indulge in your personal matters. How is your ex girlfried Jayalalitha? Are you still courting her? We heard that when she came to Hyderabad for a MP's ( I think he is SubbaRami reddi) funeral in a CM's capacity, she slept in your guest house with sasikala. Is that true Mr. Mallya? You could have encroached Ramasamy Udayar's liquor market in tamil nadu, when Jaya was CM. Why didn't you do that? The reason why I ask this is We dont get kingfisher in this state, which is available even in places like Dubai.

Vijay, since you deal in 'spirits',which could be potentially dangerous if abused,what are you doing to promote responsbile use of your products?Do you think you should have any social responsibility at all in this regard?

Mr. VM whatever made you decide to give up all your shares in Berger - on the Singapore Main Board?

Do u believe in the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi?

Vijay- Researchers in the US and other places recently concluded that drinking in moderation, ie 1-2 drinks a day,could prevent heart-attack? How do you plan to exploit this in marketing your products?

Looks like the only VM here is me??

I understand Sultan Sulayem was responsible for your ouster in Dubai. How are you fighting back? Or have your resigned yourselves to treatment handed out by the Arabs there. There have been lesser fries who have fallen victim to the greed of the Dubai Arabs and have lost everything. You are a big guy, will you just let it pass?

Is prohibition in many of the Indian States affecting your business???

Where the @@#$ is he???????????????????????????/

ARAV:YOU GET KINGFISHER IN DUBAI?WE DON'T GET IT IN HARYANA!@!! please have one for me right now. have 6. Have a case.... buy the brewery...jeez you make me burn...where is Mr Mallya anyway? get MOG/SOOFEE/HERO/MARCOS etc...

Mr. Mallya I have asked you many questions but you have'nt replied... What's going on???

Mr.Mallya - Is it possible to get hold of an org.chart of one of your companies?

Mr Mallya is connected via AOL. His browser has crashed again. His assistant, Ms Santocci, is trying to reconnect.

Is is true that Manu Chhabria used you to launch himself on the Indian Scene?

Mr. Mallya - seems like u are a typical businessman with no respect for other people's time.

Damn,I am tired of talking to miself?what the heck is goin' on????????????????????

We r going to wait for him ......

VM ... wine, women, fast cars, horses and success at such an early age. Way to go!!!!!!!!!!! How do you manage to stay sober?

I swear KD Madan of FMSCI, or Col. Harendran, or even Jayalaitha, must have screwed this up. REDIFF balled ity up this time right royal...

BOND: I can still drive race cars pretty quickly, unfortunately I cannot drive the internet, sorry for the delay, but we keep losing the connection on america online.

Vijay- I have asked you a zillion questions, could ya possibly answer at least one.AOL is piece of crap any way.

Hey Vijay: YOu think Indian business men has a responsibility to do everything possible to stamp out corruption in India?

What is personal opinion of Dubai? Would you agree that there are two sets of rules in operation there...one for the local and one for the expatriates. And the local inspite of being wrong is always right. The supposed laws are adjusted to suit the requirement of the locals and the best of lawyers found there are merely puppets in the hands of Arabs. In the final analysis, the expatriates have to take it lying down...no matter what. Comments. Mr. VM

Do you run your company like a 'dictator' or are you more or less like 'real manager'.

Don't tell me you lost your connectin again?

Hello Mr. Mallya, This is Rakesh from Sharjah joining the chat.

As an industrialist,what is your most important agenda in life?

Mr. Mallya, is it true that you personally name any new product lauched by UB.

Mr. Mallya, is it true that you personally name any new product lauched by UB. Rakesh

Hey vijay, why don't you come to Texas where I am from, we don't have any problems here. San Francisco, hehhh,you know what they say about them people.

How much time do you spend in Dubai in a year?

Come on fella, what's keeping you?? Let's hear some words....surely the occassion is not getting the better of you, or would you rather not be open about things???

Mr. Mallya Havin achieved so much at such a fairly young age( pretty girls, money....) What next????

Hey Rediff guys-should we call it quits or what?

Mr. Mallya, I am out of here. Good Night and God Bless.

VEERESHMALIK: I am convinced that the FMSCI is functioning more efficiently and effectively than ever before. Unfortunately, there will always be somebody who is disgruntled or unhappy with the FMSCI judgement. The GOI does not have a very helpful attitude in the promotion of motorsports in India unlike the support and encouragement that the sport receives in western countries. We are doing our best and the process will be slow. I am sure that India will be firmly planted on the international motorsporting map.

Mohan>> I travel a great deal and the fact that UB companies across the world operate successfully only means that I delegate a great deal. In fact, in the Indian context I have been accused of giving my operating managers too much freedom, but I do not regret it. Regarding your second question, there are many management gurus and various firms that offer a variety of services. I believe that it is sometimes good to get a professional external view in order to improve the operation of a business. This is precisely what I just did, with spectacular results.

would you like say something about the pathetic state of India (Fully Corrupted,in tune of crores, minister steering our country).

Bond: while our Indian businesses register excellent growth in Rupee terms each year we seem to stagnate in dollar terms due to the depreciation of our currency each year. Our international businesses keep growing in dollar terms but we are still far away from the fortune 500 list. My current thinking is that size is not everything. I would rather be recognized as a major player in a particular product segment and I am glad that our Spirits business in India has been ranked as the 9th largest in the world.

From Los Angeles: Does UB financing support venture projects in the US? If so, we can work on it.

Hello from NYC guys. Whats shakin in here?

Mr. Mallya:Welcome back!On FMSCI-it's not a question of being disgruntled. From the heights of Himalyan Rally/Asia Pacific to a point where the FMSCI observors just come along to 'watch' a rally...Sir are you aware that even companies like Maruti (83% of Indian market) don't want to talk to FMSCI bcos of attitude problems on part of the fixtures there? Anyway glad you feel motorsports will succeed in India, we feel so, too, but it wud probably be without FMSCI, a bit like Leander Paes without the assistance of the LTA of India...a word to the competitors in the MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE ex-delhi 12oct'96, please?

Vijay-Thanks, sorry you had all this trouble with AOL.Hope you can answer a few more of my questions,if you have time.