The week began with disturbing news from Bangkok where Tata Motors MD Karl Slym passed away at the hotel where he was staying. It was initially reported as an accident as he fell from the 22nd floor of the Shangri-La Hotel to the fourth floor, but later it was probed into further, and was considered a suspected suicide. Subsequently, Ravi Kant, the former MD of Tata Motors and current non-executive director and vice-chairman of the company, is expected to take temporary charge of Tata Motors.

Amidst this, some interesting research reports came in this week. One of them stated that Northern Indian graduates are more employable than their southern counterparts. Another study by ASSOCHAM revealed that workforce in agriculture and allied activities has come down by 11 per cent during the last decade, signaling a rise in secondary and tertiary sectors, self-employment and regular jobs. While Tech Mahindra and Citi are reportedly hiring bullishly, a research by Boston Consulting Group also estimated that by 2020, India will have a surplus of around 47 million of the active/employable population. Adding to this, Hay Group spelled good news through its annual Top Executive Compensation Report 2013-14, which suggested that compensation of CEOs and MDs in India is expected to grow by 10 per cent in 2013-2014. A Towers Watson research shared that performance pay model is increasingly gaining importance in India but it still needs to be looked into critically and improved upon, in terms of linking compensation to unquantifiable corporate goals.

A lot of movements also happened this week, the most influential ones being Gopal Vittal, the joint MD and CEO (India) of Bharti Airtel, elevated to the position of managing director as Manoj Kohli the current MD and CEO (international) of Bharti Airtel, will step down from the post and become the chairman of Bharti Airtel Netherlands BV, the holding company of Bharti's African operations. Harish Bhat, MD Tata Global Beverages and the Chairman of Tata Coffee, has been elevated at Tata Sons as Member – Group Executive Council (GEC), Arun Kumar Gupta has taken over as the Chairman and Managing Director of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), Jayakumar is AkzoNobel India MD and not to miss out on the fact that Microsoft is preparing to name a new CEO.