The most marked development of the year was the Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) Satyam financial scam, disclosed by the founder B Ramalinga Raju, forcing the government to redraft rules for corporate governance and auditing standards.
From thousands of job losses to historic bankruptcies to Dubai debt crisis, the year had more than its share of shocks.
India achieved the distinction of being the second fastest growing economy amid the global recession in 2009, but the joy was marred by the decade's sharpest rise in food prices to the chagrin of common man.
Besides, some foreign MNCs -- possibly enticed by the world's second fastest growing economy -- sought to enter India by acquiring into local companies, mostly in telecom, steel and pharma sectors.
It was only gold, one of the oldest investment forms, that provided some solace to investors and somehow stood by its record of being a safe place to put hard cash in -- although the gain of about 25 per cent was nothing compared to what it returned in the previous years. This time around, however, the money that went into stocks lost more than half of its value on an average in comparison to a gain of 25-50 per cent over past few years.
The best part of the economy was its resilience, of course with a little help in the form of fiscal actions from the government to reverse the slow down, at a time when finance minister P Chidambaram was asked to take charge of the law and order machinery as home minister in the face of Mumbai terror attacks.
The turmoil in the world economy has done what economists and experts could not do for years -- pushing into the day-to-day life a healthy dose of financial jargon, a lot of which has even become household words now.
Coca Cola is planning more investments in India on top of its Rs 1000 crore budget for this market. The incremental investment will be made in the next three years. This is with the view of making India amongst Coke's top five markets. Coke regards India as a 'profitable' venture that is adding to the balance sheet of the global giant. India is currently at number 17 in the list of countries where Coke is present and had emerged among the best markets for Coke during 2007.
Ambani vs Ambani, Tata vs Birla, Ambani vs Mittal, the fights came in all permutations and combinations, making 2007 arguably the most happening as well as a tumultuous period for the Indian industry that stamped its authority overseas with about 250 acquisitions worth over $32 billion.
Even with less than four dozen in number as listed entities, the PSUs account for over 20 per cent share of the overall market capitalisation of the more than 4,000 entities at the bourses.
India's corporate honchos spent a considerable time and energy this year at deal tables and executed over thousand transactions involving sale or purchase of equity stakes in their companies. On an average, every single day of 2007 saw about three deals being announced. This included a total of 1,047 merger and acquisitions as well as private equity deals for a total value of $68.32 billion (about Rs 2,75,000 crore).
While declining to comment on the intended takeover bid for JLR by Tata Motors, another group company, Myers said the relationship was close to four years old.
The Indica, known to Europeans as City Rover, was rolled out in November 2003 but did not succeed in the market where consumers are very choosy about the vehicles they buy.
SBI is keen on big overseas acquisitions that will give it a 'strategic fit' along with new products and access to cheaper capital. SBI is not keen on small foreign banks worth a few millions, chairman O P Bhatt said.
Banking is all about leveraging, the ICICI boss said.
Merger and acquisitions is the toast of the season and a full platter of deals is expected to hit the table very soon in the consumer goods space involving leading players like HLL, Dabur, Marico and United Spirits.
Corporate India has put together a whopping $20 billion (Rs 90,000 crore) so far this year to fund its merger and acquisition bills abroad, surpassing all previous full year totals.
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