Page 58 - BANKING FINANCE APRIL 2024

FEATURES

There must be ease of winding up

business, too

T he World Bank regularly publishes an 'ease of doing India there is no social separation between the founder and
a business. Legally, dues are owed by entities; in India,
business' ranking of countries. In the last published
report in 2020, India had significantly improved its
however, creditors start hounding individuals for the dues,
ranking to 63 from 142 in 2015. This is an
important parameter because it tells the world how friendly leading to severe harassment and abuse.
we are as a nation to attract international business While we all want to build a startup ecosystem in India that
investments. Entrepreneurs prefer to operate in matches global standards, this is an area where we are way
environments where they have freedom to do business behind. The founder of a failed startup in the San Francisco
without facing red tape or political interference. Bay Area is headhunted by big brands because of the huge
learning the entrepreneur can bring to the table; but in India,
However, there's another half of the problem that is very a failed founder is treated like a persona non grata and
relevant for startups. The failure rate of startups is quite high hounded by creditors. This needs to change and the
and this is unlikely to improve anytime soon. Founders of failed government can play an important role in this by instituting
startups must be facilitated to shut down the unsuccessful a simple process to shut down a company; and providing a
venture without a hitch and move to their next startup. safety net for entrepreneurs to avoid getting entangled in
legal wrangles. This would allow entrepreneurs to do what
A good business environment must not only enable the setting they are good at, namely launch their next startup.
up and running of a business smoothly but also offer the right
support when the business wants to close operations. In other It is, of course, possible that such a protection may be gamed
words, there must be ease of not doing business, as well. by some folks by taking undue advantage of the support, but
that's a small risk in any initiative.
When I had to shut down India plaza due to funding troubles,
I realised the enormity of the challenge I was facing. As per We cannot have a process that punishes 100 per cent of the
regulations, the management of the company that wants to participants to catch 5 per cent of the deviants. That's the
down shutters must get 'no objection' certificates from several thinking we need to truly build a world class startup
groups including creditors, which is impossible. Further, in ecosystem. (Business Line)

Madhu Nair named CEO of Union Mutual Fund

Union Mutual Fund has appointed Madhu Nair as the chief executive officer of the asset manager. Nair will succeed
G Pradeepkumar, who has led the fund house since its inception in 2010. Nair who was earlier the head of sales and
distribution at HSBC Mutual Fund has worked with fund houses like Invesco MF, Kotak MF and Kothari Pioneer MF in
various sales and distribution roles. An email sent to Union Mutual Fund was unanswered, while Nair could not be
reached for comment. Union MF is a joint venture of Union Bank of India and Dai-Ichi Life Holdings and managed
assets worth 13,595 crore for the quarter ended December 2023.

52 | 2024 | APRIL | BANKING FINANCE