7 interesting Forbes India reads for the weekend

The weekend’s here and hope you have settled down in your favourite reading spot. Here are some of our exclusive stories from the past week, ranging Amazon’s amazing run in India, a few more reads from our Hidden Gems series and an interview with the SBI chief, Arundhati Bhattacharya.

There are huge internal challenges on the merger which we will overcome: Arundhati Bhattacharya
She is undoubtedly one of India’s most influential people, and it is always a privilege to know her astute views on a range of topics of national interest. Forbes India’s Editor, Sourav Majumdar and Associate Editor, Salil Panchal succeeded in speaking to the State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya in a free-wheeling exclusive interview with Forbes India. She shares her insights on the bank's mega merger, non-performing assets, digitisation and much more. Click here to read more

Amazon: Pampering with Prime
Within a year of starting the service in the country, every third order Amazon gets in India is a Prime order, says 42-year-old Amit Agarwal, senior VP at Amazon.com, Inc and head of the company’s India operations. Add to that the launch of the Prime Video subscription, and the rate of growth of such customers has doubled. Clearly, the company's obsession with customer satisfaction is bearing fruit, writes our Tech Editor, Harichandan Arakali. Click here to read more

Nykaa: Looking good in the beauty business
The brand is quite popular, and if you were wondering who is behind Nykaa, meet Falguni Nayar. Our Senior Correspondent, Varsha Meghani spoke to the investment banker-turned-businesswoman who founded the company in April 2012 to fill what she says was a “huge gap”—the lack of online cosmetics retailers—in the Indian market. The ₹214-crore beauty and wellness retailer is focused on growing fast using a multi-pronged strategy to surge ahead as a beauty and wellness retailer. Click here to read more

Manthan Software: Analytics with cloud cover
The Bengaluru-headquartered Manthan Software sells business analytics software and services to prominent chains like Danish shoe retailer Ecco, fashion retailer Charming Charlie, supermarket/grocery store chain Woolworths in Australia, and businesses with several hundreds of stores in the US and other markets. Impressive for a Hidden Gem, right? But that’s not all. Harichandan Arakali met ‘serial entrepreneur’ Atul Jalan, the CEO and MD of Manthan, and discovered that the 13-year-old company is looking to do away with the laptop in the CEO's cabin. Click here to read more

Amagi Media Labs: Beam me here, Scotty
What if you are a small business with a product that you want to sell specifically in your home district, to a particular target audience? This is where Amagi Media Labs’ geotargeting solution—in which national broadcasters can beam different ads locally—comes into play. Find out more about Amagi and its technology, through its founders, Baskar Subramaniam, Srinivasan KA and Srividhya Srinivasan. Click here to read more

Our philosophy is to let more people enjoy luxury: Frederique Constant's Aletta Stas
The Swiss do know a thing or two about watches, don’t they? So hear it straight from Aletta Stas, COO and co-founder of Frederique Constant, who says the brand’s customers prefer a beautiful timepiece with an accessible price. She tells our Deputy Head of Desk, Jasodhara Banerjee, about the company's motivations, its distinct watches for the India market and the charm of the Ladies Heart Beat. Click here to read more

John Distilleries: The Good Choice
Paul P John's first attempt at entrepreneurship was a disaster, leaving him running for cover from creditors. But the second time round, he was successful – and how! Original Choice, the whisky brand manufactured by his company John Distilleries, is the eighth-largest-selling whisky brand in the world. Associate Editor, Anshul Dhamija brings you this Hidden Gem – and tells the inspiring story of John, who started his first business as a 23-year-old, borrowing ₹50 lakh from his father to buy a biscuit factory. Click here to read more