{"id":2943,"date":"2014-06-30T18:23:19","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T18:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/distribution\/blog\/2014-06-30\/qa-bloomberg-reporter-bhuma-shrivastava\/"},"modified":"2015-06-16T18:24:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-16T18:24:17","slug":"qa-bloomberg-reporter-bhuma-shrivastava","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/distribution\/blog\/2014-06-30\/qa-bloomberg-reporter-bhuma-shrivastava\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A With Bloomberg Reporter Bhuma Shrivastava"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_column_text]Bhuma Shrivastava is a Bloomberg reporter based in Mumbai, where she covers the conglomerates that dominate the Indian economy.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Depth recently spoke with Bhuma to discuss her work and the role of Indian conglomerates in the global economy.<\/p>\n

You do most of your work reporting on conglomerates in India. What challenges do you face covering this beat? What do you do to find sources and develop stories?<\/strong>
\nThe biggest challenge is staying up to speed on all the sectors the Indian conglomerates have spawned into. It is not unusual for me to start a day chasing an acquisition by a Kumar Mangalam Birla-controlled cement maker and end it with a story on Tata group’s aviation ventures. It is important that I fully understand the nuances of each business and that keeps me on my toes.<\/p>\n

Geographical spread is another challenge. Coordination with beat reporters across teams and countries is extremely important. Most story ideas emerge out of cross-team discussions where we are able to connect the dots and see the larger picture.<\/p>\n

You’ve said that a big part of your job is to track the conglomerates “as they create and destroy wealth.” What do you mean by this phrase? Why is it significant? <\/strong>
\nConglomerates are not tightly defined entities. These business groups morph into different beings at different points in time by entering new sectors, exiting some, merging sister companies or hiving them off, acquiring targets, piling on debt and then finding innovative ways to pare it down. If all goes well, a lot of investor wealth is created in the process. If instead a downturn sets in or business decisions falter, investor wealth, in massive amounts, has been destroyed too.<\/p>\n

Sometimes such wealth destruction is obvious and gets reflected in stock prices. Sometimes, however, the impact is less obvious especially if it involves transactions between promoters’ unlisted and listed entities or royalty payouts by an Indian unit to its overseas parent company. Fitch Rating’s Indian unit warned in a report that some Indian companies were taking on debt to continue paying high dividends. It is essential for readers and clients to be aware of such under-the-radar events that could be eroding a company’s valuation.<\/p>\n

You recently wrote an interesting story about the efforts to expand the metro system in India. How is this process going? Are you optimistic about it?<\/strong>
\nThere is currently an unprecedented push in India to build mass transport systems across big and small cities with $33 billion being spent on nearly two dozen projects. It is also desperately needed. The real skepticism is how long it’ll take to get these metros rolling given the much storied Indian red tape, delays in obtaining regulatory approvals and right-of-way issues across congested city clusters.<\/p>\n

What are some of the challenges associated with reporting in India? What about some of the benefits and highlights?<\/strong>
\nDisclosures by companies are sometimes not rigorous enough in India. Indian conglomerates also tend to be exceptionally opaque in their disclosures on intra-group financing and cross-holding structures.<\/p>\n

But for all its pains, writing on conglomerates is a very rewarding exercise since they attract such a lot of attention from regulators, fund managers and sell side analysts across the world. India itself is back on the radar of global fund flows as investors eagerly await some decisive policy making. Therefore, everything that the new government does \u2014 or doesn’t do \u2014 is going to be significant. There hasn’t been a better time to report out of India.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Lauren Meller<\/a><\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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