About the Book

AN UNRAVELLING OF THE WELL-KEPT SECRET OF TAMIL NADU'S INDUSTRIAL GROWTH.
The early '80s. The South as a business centre is not on anyone's radar. Bombay and, to a lesser extent, Delhi, dominate the business world. Madras is an overgrown village, and Bangalore a pensioner's paradise.
Fast-forward to 2016. Mumbai and Delhi continue to remain powerhouses. In the South, Bangalore is on top of everyone's list, and even Hyderabad is seen as a dynamic centre of growth. A little-known fact though is that Chennai is the base for more industries than either of those two cities.
Tamil Nadu's industrial growth has to be one of India's best-kept secrets. For various reasons-its distance from Delhi, the Centre's lack of interest because of the dominance of regional parties, companies not rushing to the stock market unlike their western and northern counterparts-Tamil Nadu is not perceived as an industrially advanced state.
Surge seeks to undo that misconception. Examining both old-economy and new-economy industries, profiling scions of well-established families as well as young upstarts, homegrown talent and those who came in from outside the state, this book fills an important niche in the story of Indian industrialisation. An incisive account by veteran business journalist Sushila Ravindranath, this is a must-read for students of business, corporate executives, and indeed, anyone interested in the dynamic world of business and finance.

About the Author

Sushila Ravindranath joined Business India as a staff writer in 1983. This was a time when business was still a bad word-Business Week called India an elephant on an oil spill. Business India was the country's first business magazine.
Sushila moved to Chennai a couple of years later. She ended up doing stories on many South Indian groups which were publicity-shy and had never been written about. She had the opportunity to set up Business India bureaus in all the main southern cities. As Bureau Chief, South, she was involved in the company's foray into television and cable distribution and other ventures.
In 2000 she was asked by R K Swamy BBDO, one of the country's largest advertising agencies, to set up an entertainment portal. After setting up the Hansazone website she moved to the New Sunday Express as its editor. After a brief spell as Resident Editor, Deccan Chronicle, she is now a Consulting Editor for Financial Express. She writes business and political columns for Financial Express and Indian Express. She has compiled the CII Entrepreneurs Handbook and the CII e-book on women entrepreneurs of the southern region.