It was a mixed year for social networking sites, which began the year with a bang. Social media sites like MySpace, BigAdda, Ibibo, Orkut and Facebook firmed up operations while sites like Yahoo Mash, popularly touted as competitor to Facebook, shut shop in September 2008 after a year of being launched.
Not all companies are generous with numbers these days - they're willing to share details of their core operations, but many of them are reluctant to let shareholders get even a glimpse of newer ventures
An Indian legal professional who takes home Rs 25,000 a month earns a tiny fraction of the Rs 10,000 an hour that his counterpart in the US earns.
FMCG moves fast, while real estate yields ground and metals lose their lustre. The star of 2008 so far has been Hindustan Unilever; the multinational FMCG player has actually gained 20.45 per cent between January 1, 2008 and December 24, 2008.
Pradip Shah, managing director, IndOcean, feels that although gold has done reasonably well, it doesn't really create too much value in the long run.
Insurance, telecom, infrastructure, FMCG and energy are unlikely to downsize; Elsewhere, only top performers are safe.
The Citi deal should help Wipro beef up its presence in the banking and financial services (BFSI) space. The target company does work in the technology infrastructure services space as also application development and maintenance and the Rs 19,957 crore (Rs 199.57 billion) Wipro should be able to leverage these services with other clients. The assured revenues of $500 million will come in handy at a difficult time.
Three major undersea cables -- the Sea Me We 4, Sea Me We3, and FLAG -- were cut, considerably slowing down India's internet and voice traffic. The extent of the damage is still being assessed.
If implemented, this will be music to the ears of shareholders and analysts who have been insisting that Satyam would be better off returning money to shareholders.
In an economic downturn such as this, when the markets have crashed, there are many more Satyams which are vulnerable to hostile takeovers because the promoters do not have a controlling stake. Such promoters will be tempted to take cash out of their companies and park it elsewhere.
The crux of the problem it appears is one of "trust" and the perception that a unilateral decision was taken by the board, allegedly to favour Raju's sons' companies.
By entering into related-party deals without shareholder approval, the firm has done irreparable damage to India Inc's reputation. Minority shareholders of Satyam Computer have every reason to feel short-changed. Without so much as by your leave, the management has decided to enter into related party transactions using the company balance sheet.
Over the last weekend, the central bank has tried to address the biggest near-term concern for property companies --bankruptcy -- says a CLSA report. The one-time move, which will allow banks not to classify commercial real estate loans as non-performing loans, will reduce the near-term risks for some property firms.
The last couple of months have dealt a severe blow to IT firms, which has even prompted the top listed Indian IT services providers to inform investors that they need to scale down their growth expectations from the sector that, on an average, has been growing almost 30 per cent year-on-year.
But industry needs to take up the issue at the highest level, business groups need to set aside their differences and work together, inconceivable as the idea may seem. It would be a pity if the corporate sector were to keep quiet this time.
The latest generation of Altec Lansing speakers, the FX3022 ex-pressionist Bass, make an interesting set of speakers. ex-pressionist Bass are meant to be an audio treat for music lovers and are priced at roughly Rs 7,000.
It all started with the advent and success of smaller laptops or netbooks, as they are called, in June 2008. Now, Indian and multinational PC makers like Asus, HCL Infosystems and Wipro are ready to give a push to the retail sales of even smaller desktops or Nettops, based on Intel Atom processors. Others like Dell, HP and Lenovo are expected to follow.
Sophisticated security-related electronics are expected to flood the domestic market after the Mumbai terror attacks.
Terrorist attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and consistently exploiting India's gaping security loopholes -- both on terra firma and in cyberspace. Yet, India's seriousness about electronic surveillance as a preventive measure appears to be woefully inadequate.
Considered, till recently, the "blue-chips" of the estimated $15 billion Indian matrimonial market, the marriage value of non-resident Indian (NRI) and India-based investment bankers is rapidly being eroded.
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