As the demand for a grand stimulus gathers steam, the government is targeting an investment of Rs 100,000 crore
After Shah Rukh Khan's successful run with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, it is Aamir Khan who is bringing in all the earnings for Bollywood this year with Ghajini raking in Rs 40 crore in the first four days of release.
Chief executive of TAM Media LV Krishnan and and CEO, aMap, Amit Varma, share their concerns on the business of TV ratings in an interview with Ashish Sinha.
With no sign of the global liquidity crunch abating, the government is planning to ease the lending norms for banks and financial institutions so that they can provide funds for the ambitious ultra mega power projects.
A curb on advertising budgets for television by the large companies and economic slowdown have managed to bring down the prime-time (8 pm-11 pm) ad-spot rates of general entertainment channels (GECs) like Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony TV to the levels of 2005-06.
The lukewarm response to the proposed real estate development around the Delhi airport has put its Rs 8,940-crore modernisation in a financial bind.
The finance ministry is learnt to have raised a serious objection to the proposed relaxation in the foreign direct investment norms in restricted sectors such as telecom and insurance.According to sources in the government, in a meeting of a group of ministers on Tuesday, the finance ministry representatives argued that the proposed relaxation would effectively remove the current limits in the respective sectors. Sources said senior members of the GoM also objected.
Despite sharp erosion in the net worth of airline companies due to losses in the recent past, banks and financial institutions have decided to sanction loans to some of them including Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, while some of the companies in this sector are still waiting.
In another bid to mobilise funds for the cash-strapped realty major Unitech, promoter Ramesh Chandra and his family are in talks with leading Indian and global steel giants to sell their 25 per cent stake in Bhubaneswar-headquartered Orissa Sponge Iron & Steel Ltd.Investment banks said the Chandras, who bought the stake sometime in 2006 and 2007, are in talks with Korean steel giant Posco and Delhi-based Bhushan Steel, which owns 6 per cent in the firm.
In what is being termed as the biggest hit of 2008, based on its first 10-days box office collection, Shah Rukh Khan starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi has managed to collect about Rs 60 crore so far, of which nearly half has come from the overseas markets.
The government is considering a fresh stimulus of around Rs 20,000 crore for manufacturing companies and non-banking finance companies routed through the Stressed Asset Stabilisation Fund (SASF) Trust that is currently mandated to deal with bad and doubtful debts of IDBI Bank.
Matter to come before copyright board on January 28.
The key to last week's revival package, in the infrastructure sector, is the two-year old India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) and the efforts of its chairman and managing director, Surinder Singh Kohli.
The cable industry, which reaches over 80 million out of India's 130 million TV-owning homes, is getting ready to strongly oppose the government's move to raise the foreign direct investment limit for direct-to-home service providers from 49 to 74 per cent without doing the same for cable companies.
UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC), India's oldest mutual fund, is in advanced stages of discussions to divest 26 per cent to a strategic partner.
Nowhere in the world have television viewers been spoilt with so much choice as in India -- there are over 360 television channels on air in the country and applications for another 160 await the government's nod.
Both lifestyle and technical publications are allowed up to 100 per cent foreign investments, according to the norms laid out by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Al-Abbas group of the UAE, through its publishing arm, Twenty First Century Publishing, will be the 50:50 joint venture partner of Bangalore-based Connoisseur Publishing.
'There are no formal guidelines for security. The Commonwealth Games Federation, London, oversees the preparations. The idea is to ensure that the games go on smoothly. It should not be a fortress,' says A Vasudevan, additional director general, Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.
This means the consumers will have to pay an additional monthly subscription to get these HD channels. Currently, the popular DTH bouquets (80-120 channels) are available at Rs 150-300 a month across most DTH platforms.
D B Corp, the owner of the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, is in advanced discussions with broadcaster INX Media to acquire a stake in the company that operates the entertainment channels as well as a majority stake in its English language news channel NewsX. Both companies are promoted by Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, the former Star India CEO.