After passing of the Competition Act, 2007, in September, Minister of Corporate Affairs Prem Chand Gupta had announced that the CCI would be fully functional by the middle of next year.
Prices of cotton have already gone up by 10-20 per cent per candy (356 kg) this year to Rs 16,000-Rs 23,000 depending on the variety. There has been a softening in the past few weeks but the prices are expected to firm up again as demand grows.
Premium British ale brands such as Abbot Ale, Fuller's London Pride, Broughton, St. Peter's, Spitfire and Hobgoblin Ale are expected to make their entry into the hotels soon.
The industry is seriously concerned that the new Competition Act, passed by Parliament in September but not yet fully notified, could impact local and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and curtail business activities by placing substantial discretionary powers in the hands of the thinly-staffed Competition Commission of India (CCI).
This will be a measure to provide start-up entrepreneurs and professionals the much-needed flexibility in setting up a business in India.
With the export market losing its sheen, a growing number of apparel exporters are drawing up strategies to sell their wares in the domestic market. Analysts said that the higher local demand for branded apparel was because of rising purchasing power of consumers who were now spending 6-7 per cent of their disposable income on ready-made garments. The surge in consumer spending has resulted in a 20 per cent growth in demand for international apparel.
The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns the Amul brand, is all set to introduce sugar-free chocolates across the country, targeted at diabetics. This comes soon after the company had launched sugar-free ice-cream. India has become the diabetes capital of the world with almost 35 million people suffering from the disorder. And their population will continue to grow at a fast pace, say experts, because of Indian dietary habits and a sedentary lifestyle.
Companies based at Gurgaon are sending workers on 45 days' leave without pay before the festival, while those in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, have not renewed the contracts of over 8,000 workers. All expansion plans have been put on hold and orders for new machinery are being revoked.
Vijay Mallya's United Breweries has held a vice-like grip over the Indian beer market with the Kingfisher, Kalyani and Sandpiper brands. With 137 million cases (12 bottles each), it has a 45 per cent market share. But now multinationals are closing in on UB.
The government is planning to codify class action as law. A clause to this effect has been included in the new Company Law Bill, which is expected to be tabled in the coming winter session of Parliament.
Firms use imported pulp as Indian oranges have lower juice content. The Indian orange is yet to catch the fancy of beverage companies, foreign as well as Indian. Dabur, the leader in orange-based packaged juices with a 54 per cent market share, sources orange concentrate from North and South America for its 'Real' brand.
Currently, only Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) of the Rs 24,280 crore (Rs 242.8 billion) goes to the organised sector. Companies are targeting kids from the age of one to 14. According to Technopak, this sector is growing at 20 per cent per annum.
In a bid to transform Mumbai into a world-class financial hub, the Centre has asked the Maharashtra government to upgrade its ports, railway and other infrastructure at the earliest.
Over the past one year, since the helpline became functional (on September 8, 2006), a total of 3,110 grievances have been registered.
It is not the urban centres alone that are powering India's phenomenal growth in mobile telephony. Data on rural telephony, compiled by the telecom regulator, shows people in villages are subscribing to mobile services in large numbers
The study was commissioned by the Forum of Indian Regulators -- a body which is open to all regulators but currently dominated by power regulators.
Still drinks, nectars and packaged water sales are maturing quickly to grab a major share of the Indian beverages market, according to "The 2007 India Soft Drinks Report" by Canadean, the global beverages research company.
Dire warnings that the future wars will be fought over water may come true sooner than anticipated, albeit with a flavour. At least four behemoths, three of them multinationals, will soon mount an assault on the flavoured water market.
After filing their objections against the Air India-Indian Airlines merger with the corporate affairs ministry on August 31, the unions of Indian Airlines are now planning to take the matter to court.
Thursday's flooding of the National Informatics Centre rendered most of the Indian government websites with the domain address 'nic.in' -- including the Prime Minister's and President's websites -- inaccessible.
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