Deepika Padukone: Beauty and birdie. A Telegraph picture

Birdies or bogeys, business often blooms not in boardrooms but on the golf greens these days. In sync with that contemporary corporate adage, Infocom 2006, eastern India’s biggest IT exposition, will tee off at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) on Tuesday.

Led by ramp star Deepika Padukone, over 100 CEOs, chairpersons and corporate hotshots will swing, chip and putt their way through the verdant course for four hours, followed by dinner on the lawns, on the eve of the five-day infotech summit.

The fifth edition of Infocom, organised by Nasscom and Businessworld (an ABP Group publication), will be inaugurated by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Wednesday morning at ITC Sonar Bangla Sheraton & Towers.

The Infocom CXO Golf meet will give participants a chance to mix business and sport on a perfect platform for networking, says an organiser. ‘Great things happen when great minds meet’ goes the Infocom catchphrase, and Manmohan Singh, CEO of the 177-year-old golf club, feels there couldn’t be a better rendezvous for such a conclave.

The four-ball, 18-hole meet to be played on individual Stableford format, will enable up to 102 golfers to tee off simultaneously in a shotgun start.

“It’s a tailor-made opportunity for the corporate top brass. They can spend four hours in the lap of nature, in the most relaxed setting possible, and get to know each other well, which could set the tenor for the serious trade talks to follow,” observes Singh.

Model-cum-actress Deepika, daughter of badminton great Prakash Padukone and a keen sportsperson herself, appreciates the growing synergy between business and golf, even though she herself doesn’t play the game.

“It’s true, a lot of business deals are struck on the golf course and why not? People are much more relaxed while playing and their mind is clear. Golf is a great way to beat stress,” she tells Metro, adding that her younger sister is a serious golfer about to go pro.

The tech meet tee-off apart, the biz bunch can pick up fairway fundamentals at a golf clinic on Tuesday, also on the Royal greens.

The clinic is to be conducted by Brandon D’Souza, president, Tiger Sports Marketing (TSM), managing the event.

“The game’s connect with the corporate world has been well chronicled and the Royal offers a perfect setting for a lead-up event to a critical conclave like Infocom,” says D'Souza, from Bangkok.

The golf meet will see the likes of Williamson Magor managing director Aditya Khaitan, J. Thomas general manager Gaurav Ghosh, Bharat Patel of Procter & Gamble, Anil Jhala of IDEA Cellular, Puneet Chaddha of HSBC... taking to the RCGC greens.