MC Insider: Who brokered the Punjab Congress peace, realty star’s homecoming, boardroom battle, IPO friction and more

This fintech's IPO has one of its key investors in a bind. The top VC firm and the company are believed to have had a rocky relationship. We hear the fintech's founder always thought that the VC firm preferred another competing company it invested in, which was eventually sold for a neat sum. The IPO-bound fintech will make this investor good money, but rumour has it that this investor hardly spends time with this company on its listing plans and isn't exactly hands on. In fact, its board member also resigned a few years back. Intriguing scenario indeed considering that VCs are huge proponents of IPOs.

A little birdie from the world of lenders tells us that a prominent investor who holds a significant stake in one of the private sector banks is now eyeing a board seat. The investor had to move out of the board for regulatory reasons a while ago and buzz is that this investor is lobbying hard with the board to get a slot. Discussions are on at the highest level. The investor may succeed in this bid very soon unless a last-minute surprise is in the offing. Watch this space for an update!

People think that Navjot Singh Sidhu and Captain Amarinder Singh are the most eager for the Punjab tiff in the Congress to be resolved to their liking but there is another person who seems even more eager than them — Harish Rawat, who is in charge of the party in Punjab. Rawat, the former Uttarakhand Chief Minister, wants the Punjab crisis to be over as soon as possible so that he can focus on his home state which goes to polls alongside Punjab in six months and this is where Rawat smells a real chance to become the chief minister again given the plight BJP finds itself in after having three CMs in the last 4.5 years. But far from being in Dehradun, Rawat is doing the rounds between 10, Janpath in Delhi and Chandigarh to try to bring the warring CM and Sidhu on the same page. He was even flown in a chopper by the party from Delhi to Chandigarh and back on Saturday to meet the CM. In his statements, Rawat has now said at least three times on various occasions that the matter will be resolved in 2-3 days but the deadline is always missed. This is slowly becoming a case of his mind being in Chandigarh but his heart being in Dehradun where there is an election also to be fought!

In the latest chatter from the realty space, we are picking up that the former top brass of a major real estate global consultancy in India is planning to announce his plans to join another big international realty firm after a six-month cooling off period. Word is that the announcement would be made this week. Remember where you heard it first!

While online classes have continued for close to 15 months, schools continue to face challenges limiting entry to digital sessions. Pranksters and intruders are still disrupting classes leading to loss of valuable school time. Since warnings to students don't seem to work, schools now want the government and their education board CBSE to enforce rules and dictate penalties for students giving access to unauthorised persons. Schools want penalties like deduction of up to 10 marks from unit tests to one-week suspension to ensure that students learn a lesson.

Here's an inspiring story. A small finance bank (SFB) is acquiring two lakh customers per month through the online channel with many customers coming from cities where it has no branches! This is a rather interesting case study as other SFBs are losing out on market share while this peer is making all the right moves to aggressively grab more market share. Yet another case of the digital mantra being put to great use!

Shifting focus now to deal street. The pandemic has seen a record, unprecedented surge in the addition of first time stock market investors from all parts of the country. In some sections, they are popularly referred to as Robinhood investors. Not surprisingly as a result of the COVID-19 induced retail investor euphoria, broking firms have seen a dream run so far and we hear a potential M&A is brewing in this segment. Any guesses?

Private jets have become rather popular with affluent Indians, including elite members of India Inc in the COVID-19 era. And why not, when you can take a break, get away from the madding crowd and descend into an exotic locale in your own plane. Buzz is that the latest to join the bandwagon and acquire this fancy mode of transportation is a market veteran. A nine-seater jet! Fancy indeed!