The government had first mentioned raising foreign direct investment ceiling in insurance sector to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent in the 2004 Union Budget and introduced a Bill to do so over a year ago.
The pinnacle of a market economy is when the consumer feels like king. Never before have Indians had such a vast choice and for the icing on the cake, prices from kitchen goods to cars started falling in 2008.
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.
Volatility in lending and deposit rates witnessed during the year is expected to end in 2009 with interest rates seen to be going down, due primarily to an easy monetary stance being pursued by the Reserve Bank of India to push growth.
Five major steel producers including SAIL, Tata Steel and Essar have decided to hold the price line for up to three months after an appeal by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to manipulate prices for short-term gains. India has said it will take measures to bring down steel prices, but would first wait to see if producers do it on their own. High steel prices are partly to blame for soaring inflation, which rose to 7.33 per cent for the week ended April 12.
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.
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.
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