From JC Chaudhry's numerology love to Adar Poonawalla's candidness on Covid, IPOs and more, our top reads of the week

Every week, catch up on the best long form stories from Forbes India. Often peppered with our binge-worthy podcasts, videos or infographics too. Image: Shutterstock

1.    The numbers game
JC Chaudhry did not own a pair of chappals till he was 12, or a pair of trousers till he went to college. Then in 2021, Chaudhry’s sprawling educational institute, Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL), was bought by edtech decacorn Byju’s for nearly $1 billion in 2021, and making Chaudhry among the richest Indians. All this success, he says, is due to his belief in numbers and numerology. Now with his new business, Nummero, the septuagenarian hopes to dispel misinformation and myths surrounding numerology, and solve people's problems. He even plans to set up an institute that would integrate numerology with modern science. Read more about his plans, here.


2.    Acts of kindness
The India Philanthropy Report 2023 released on March 2 shows that family philanthropy is expected to grow at ~18 percent CAGR from FY22 to FY27, but there is still a gap between giving potential of these families and needs of vulnerable communities. To address persistent economic and social inequalities, there is a critical need for family philanthropy to step up with increased propensity and ambition, write Dasra’s Neera Nundy and Jyotirmoy Chatterji. Read the full story here.
 

3.    Podcast: Crony capitalism and controversial businessmen
In the latest podcast episode of From the Bookshelves of Forbes India, Divya Shekhar discusses a brief history of the biggest corporate failures in India over the past two decades with the director and head of research at the Korea Development Bank, Nandini Vijayaraghavan. In her latest book, 'Unfinished Business: Evolving Capitalism in the World's Largest Democracy', Nandini tells this story through four businesspersons. She talks about why the government, investors, and other stakeholders have not learnt from past mistakes, why listing day pop is a risky game, and more. Listen here.

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4.    Ups and downs
Indian markets have been sailing in rough waters since the beginning of this year, led by major sell-offs in index heavyweights, like Adani group stocks and jitters caused by the panic selling thereafter. However, sectors like autos, FMCG and industrials saw improvement with healthy margin expansions, with other segments indicating a wide divergence in margin recovery, during the third quarter of financial year 2023. But, markets remain slippery, and companies are struggling to protect margins, writes Nasrin Sultana. Full report here.


5.    Sudhir Singh: A success story
If a well-known political figure, or say an influential business tycoon was looking for insurance against ransomware, there’s no scaled-up monolithic solution for that. But Coforge’s insurance tech specialists know how to build the applications to offer such a product for their insurance clients, says Sudhir Singh. The CEO and executive director of the global digital services and solutions provider, focused on specialists and ruthlessly said no to anything outside the company's focus areas to make Coforge a $1 billion company. Here’s how.



6.    Fighting the crisis in record time
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, joins Neha Bothra on the next edition of Pathbreakers and gets candid about what it takes to be at the forefront of an pandemic, and how his company manufactured billions of doses of the Covishield vaccine in record time. The pandemic is over, but Poonawalla hasn't let go of the learnings. Poonawalla also shares the strategic roadmap for the NBFC business, Poonawalla Vision Fund, and listing plans for different verticals, why they are not looking to list Serum Institute currently, and more. Watch the full episode here.


7.    Audi Q3 Sportback: A review
If you are willing to forget about practicality, the Audi Q3 Sportback is a highly competent and desirable machine. It has a 40TFSI engine with a 2.0-litre turbo petrol that makes 190hp and 320Nm. And it has a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic same as Audi Q3. Watch this episode of Forbes India Momentum to find out if the similarities end here.