8 interesting Forbes India must-reads for the weekend

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What's a rainy weekend without a cup of coffee or tea, and something interesting to read? While you fix yourself a cuppa, we have taken care of the latter. We have put together a list of the most interesting stories that our writers wrote this week. So, sit back and enjoy.

1) Lux Industries: A cut above the rest
Samar Srivastava, our senior assistant editor speaks to Lux Industries' Todi brothers - Pradip Kumar Todi and Ashok Kumar Todi. He finds out about one of India's leading men's innerwear companies - Lux Industries - which boasts a topline of Rs 1,400 crore. Its punchline 'yeh andar ki baat hai' struck a chord with the Indian households. In this story, how they came to dominate the Indian market, the story behind the punchline, and their future plans now that their respective sons have joined the business. Click here to read

2) Making dough from doughnuts
Shruti Venkatesh, our correspondent, takes you through the journey of three delectable doughnut brands in India that are making their bid to grab a piece of the pie (pun intended). In this story, she speaks with Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, and Mad Over Donuts and discovers their unique journey into this niche market in India. Find out about how they discovered Indians like their doughnuts warm, prefer it as a dessert and not a breakfast staple, and their attempts at Indianising their products to suit the audience, in this story. Click here to read

3) We are working at understanding the affordable housing model: Harshvardhan Neotia
This time, Samar speaks with Harshavardhan Neotia, who takes us on a journey of his family businesses, from running a cement business under India's license raj to setting up an efficient real estate operation. His company now has interests in hospitality, with multiple restaurants and banquets in Kolkata. They have also forayed into healthcare and education. Samar finds out how Neotia, back in the day (in 1993), reached out to his customers to address their ranklings with builders and used that to better his product. Click here to read
 
4) Why Vikram Limaye is unfazed by the challenges ahead
Forbes India's Salil Panchal, senior assistant editor, and Pravin Palande, senior associate editor, catch the soon-to-be CEO of the National Stock Exchange in an exclusive chat. Vikram Limaye, who will take the corner office at the domestic bourse on July 17, talks about leaving IDFC Bank, its turnaround with him at the helm, and how he looks forward to his next stint. In this article, he also shares with them "a bit of his strategy" for the new role. Click here to read
 
5) Indian government's promise to people too big to let them down: EY Global Chairman
Our Associate Editor Aveek Datta sits down with the global chairman of EY, Mark A Weinberger. While Weinberger is all praise for the Indian government's GST roll out, he says only that wouldn't be enough to improve India's Ease of Doing Business ranking - one of the goals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He talks about the optimism around India as a market, the panic around the IT sector with US President Donald Trump's take on H-1B visas, and how technology is doing much more than just changing the way businesses operate. Click here to read  

6) Flipkart's data plan
Harichandan Arakali, our technology editor, speaks with the who's who of India's ecommerce major, Flipkart, to understand its big push into big data. In this story, he speaks with the CEO, the CTO, the the principal architect, vice president and head of its Big Data Services group, its chief strategist, and its vice president of product management. He takes us through Flipkart vision of utilising the several hundreds of terabytes of customer data they have collected over the years, to make your shopping experience better. He tries to understand how Flipkart is trying to answer the question - "How can we do something that is even easier than a customer calling a store and asking for a delivery". There's something about their plans for speech recognition too. Click here to read

7) Ranjan Pai: The benevolent investor
Assistant editor Anshul Dhamija writes about Ranjan Pai, the investor and investee who has seen both sides of the game. He is an entrepreneur and an investor, which means, he has   advice for both the parties and something to teach from his experiences to both the sides of the table. Dhamija tells us the story about how Pai came to invest in edutech startup Byju after a chance meeting with its founders. He talks about his strategy as an investor and how he learnt it, and so much more. If you're an entrepreneur or an investor, this one's for you. Click here to read

8) Sanjiv Goenka's bold strokes put RP-SG group on solid ground
This time, Aveek speaks with Sanjiv Goenka ahead of the demerger and individual listing of CESC’s existing businesses like power distribution, retail and FMCG. Goenka has brought about sweeping changes at the RP-SG Group since the family business was divided between his elder brother and him, with rewarding results - the RP-SG Group's turnover has doubled to Rs 19,330 crore in the last 5 years. With the demerger, Goenka hopes the individual entities will get sector-specific benefit on valuations. Goenka also shares how he decided to change the old guard at his conglomerate, who were resisting the reforms he proposed to bring in, after the entire senior management walked up to him in protest one day in 2012. The story takes you through the changes implemented across business such as carbon black business and power generation, and how they have worked out so far. Thanks to these efforts, the group’s retail business (helmed by Goenka’s son) is also on the verge of breaking even and the RP-SG Group is fast emerging as one of India’s largest conglomerates, headquartered out of Kolkata. Click here to read