India Inc, marketmen take a break

Manish Goel, president of the Bangalore-headquartered Network Appliances India left on Wednesday night with his family for Goa and will be back only after New Year's day. Goel said before he left that he wanted to get away from everything and recharge his batteries.

HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri, too, is heading for Goa with his family, to lounge on Baga Beach. Raman Pandya, retail marketing head of Essar Oil, is also taking a four-day break in Goa.

Jean Pierre Junqua, managing director of Total Gas & Power India, is exploring Tamil Nadu. State Bank of India chairman A K Purwar is going to Rajasthan with his daughters. Deutsche Bank India head Gunit Chadha is going to Kanha reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

Few senior company executives are holidaying overseas, one exception being HDFC managing director Keki Mistry, who has left for Bangkok to spend Christmas.

Other bankers and heads of companies will be vacationing closer to Mumbai. ICICI Bank managing director and CEO KV Kamath has already left for Khandala, his favourite Christmas haunt. ICICI has a guest house at Khandala. HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh will be spending New Year's eve at the organisation's five-star training centre at Lonavla. India's financial and commercial capital is clearly taking a break.

The action, however, remains heated is the stock markets. To be sure, top marketmen and dealers are out holidaying in Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan. Some mid-level marketmen have been rewarded with holidays abroad as a bonus from their employers. "A lot of dealers are going on a holiday but are preferring locales closer to home as nobody wants to miss out on the action," says Motilal Oswal, managing director of Motilal Oswal Securities. Adds Sandip Sabharwal, fund manager, SBI Mutual Fund, "The markets are in a bullish phase and activity levels have been very high, hence a lot of dealers are taking short breaks closer home."