Low earners, who only months ago were being courted aggressively by private banks and finance companies, have begun returning to him for small loans. The problem of rural debt in India was highlighted last month when the government used the budget to grant a $15bn waiver to indebted farmers. But bankers say the debt troubles in agricultural areas are being matched by rising defaults among urban lower earners.
India is beginning to experience its own version of the subprime crisis as banks tighten lending procedures to curb rising delinquencies, particularly in small unsecured personal loans. India's financial system has so far been spared much of the pain of the global subprime crisis because of the relatively small size of its banks and their conservative investment focus overseas.
A landmark court challenge by Vodafone against Indian tax authorities, which want it to pay an estimated $2bn in taxes on its acquisition of Hutchison Essar, has been adjourned for three months. The Bombay high court delayed the hearing until June 23. It is a case that has potential implications for mergers and acquisitions of Indian assets by foreign companies. The court said it wanted to allow time for changes to tax laws to come into force.
Takeover deals involving Indian companies were valued at a total of $8.3bn and numbered 153 in the first 10 weeks of this year, second only in non-Japan Asia to China, with $11.5bn deals numbering 372, according to figures from Thomson Financial. Even as the global credit crunch has damped the appetite among US groups for deals, cash-rich Indian groups have been able to continue their hunt.
In the case, which will begin on Tuesday and last for five days, Indian tax authorities will argue that Vodafone, the UK-based mobile phone group headed by Arun Sarin, is liable for an estimated $2bn in taxes on its $11bn acquisition of local operator, Hutchison Essar, last year.
In India, it is par for the course. A visitor cannot set foot in the country without seeing on every television channel or city billboard the monarchs of the country's movie industry, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, backing almost any product willing to pay their fees. That trend is extending ever more strongly to the country's other national passion, cricket. The launch of a new competition based on a popular short form of the game.
India's Tata Motors could sign a deal with Ford to buy the US carmaker's Jaguar and Land Rover marques as early as next Wednesday or Thursday, people familiar with the deal said on Tuesday.
India is at risk of sustained food price inflation as domestic production of key staples such as wheat and edible oil fails to keep pace with rising demand, according to the country's top official on commodities trading.
Mysterious text messages have begun circulating in Mumbai praising Anil Ambani, the Indian businessman.
The outsourcing industry, which provides services ranging from developing software for overseas clients to managing back office processing of mortgages, has risen to become one of India's main export earners.
India needs to grow by a sustained 10 per cent if it is to increase its per capita income
Indian engineering and maritime groups have lined up an estimated Rs180bn
India is keen to expand its banking system to help support its economic growth, which is the second fastest after China among Asia's large countries. Unlike China, its financial system is still small relative to the economy and its banks are dwarfed by many of their international peers, in spite of their vast potential market in India and overseas.
India's United Breweries has suggested close distribution ties with Heineken following the takeover offer by the Dutch brewer and Carlsberg for Scottish & Newcastle, which owns a stake in UB.
Some 55m jobs in India depend on the industry
JSW Steel is planning to list an international mining unit in London in the first such move by one of India's fast-growing steel companies.
Last week's frenzy surrounding India's record initial public offering of Reliance Power was extraordinary - it seemed that everyone wanted a piece of it. The company, expected to make its public debut next month, attracted $190bn for $3bn worth of shares from institutions and retail investors. This week, things could hardly be more different.
As investment bankers in India returned to their offices in India's financial capital, Mumbai, after Christmas and the New Year, they must have suffered from deja vu.
CapitaLand, the Singapore state-owned developer, is set to make one of the biggest bets by a foreign company on India's retail property boom, investing in 15 shopping centres worth S$2.1bn ($1.46bn) in association with two Indian construction and property groups.
The company said on Tuesday it would release its first scooters in India in 2010
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