"The entry of other players in this segment will help in reiterating the benefits of the cash-and-carry concept to Indian customers," Metro India Managing Director Martin Dlouhy says. It may be the first time anywhere in the world that Wal-Mart and Metro square off in the cash & carry format. Dlouhy's apparent nonchalance can't hide the fact that Metro may be facing one of its most difficult challenges in the country.
Kingfisher Airlines is looking to roll over close to Rs 800 crore of its short-term debt, even as it finalises the paperwork to borrow another Rs 1,500 crore from a few Indian public sector banks.
The 2009 survey, that covers the gadgets that people use on a daily basis, showed that dependence on the Net has grown. Two years ago, only 9 per cent of the respondents said they cannot survive without the internet. In 2009, the figure has jumped five-fold to 44 per cent. Email is the currency of communications and online search is crucial to the internet experience. There's a three-fold increase in people who said they can't do without gaming sites.
The facsimile edition of The Wall Street Journal and the Indian edition of Forbes, the magazine famous for its global billionaires' list, will be launched next week. A look at what to expect.
Redevco, one of Europe's largest real estate investment and development firms, with a $10 billion portfolio, is understood to be looking at investing around Rs 300 crore in various projects of Bangalore-based Sobha Developers.
Channel also acquires rights to Slumdog Millionnaire.
The present offer is a third of Homeland Mining's initial valuation. GMR Energy, a part of GMR Infrastructure, had valued this coal mining firm at $310 million when it acquired a small stake in April 2008. "In our due diligence, we have found out that we had valued this firm much higher based on various factors such as how many layers one has to mine to access the worthwhile coal," a GMR Group official said.
The TDSAT scrapping the Trai's judgement on channel pricing is a major victory for broadcasters, but could also see consumer prices moving up.
The dispute involves a UK-based hedge fund, Altima Partners, and the company's principal promoter Raghav Bahl, founder and largest shareholder of Network18, the broadcasting group which runs TV channels such as CNBC-TV18, Colors and Awaaz.
The JV TACO Sasken Automotive Electronics has been called off and over 100 people working for the JV have been asked to quit. In January 2007, Sasken and Tata AutoComp Systems had formed the JV with a focus on automotive electronics products in the areas of telematics, infotainment and occupant convenience. However sources say that even two years after its formation, the JV could hardly make any progress.
The Indian Hotels Company, the Tata Group firm which runs the Taj Group of Hotels in the country, is set to expand its offerings by getting into serviced apartments business and by widening the portfolio of its wildlife resorts.
UB Group's other businesses are being aggressively being ramped up. The group recently entered apparel exports to add to its leather exports business. These are in addition to a sturdy fertiliser arm, an engineering construction firm and a property development business which is getting into building high-end apartments.
The move has surprised the print media industry which is reeling under recession with most newspaper publishers having put their expansion plans on hold.
D B Corp, the owner of the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, is in advanced discussions with broadcaster INX Media to acquire a stake in the company that operates the entertainment channels as well as a majority stake in its English language news channel NewsX. Both companies are promoted by Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, the former Star India CEO.
Sakaal Times is in the news for the wrong reasons. The paper has shut down its Delhi office leaving a little over 60 people jobless.
The US-based global financial company is understood to have shown a "keen interest" in helping the hospital, which has 140 acres in its land bank, to unlock the value of its real estate assets.
Rupert Murdoch's international financial daily The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Company, is all set to launch its facsimile edition in India next month. The newspaper, to be launched in Mumbai, is likely to be priced at Rs 30 a copy.
The business model is going through a reality check; expansion plans on hold and manpower rationalisation is on the cards. Checking expenditure is critical now as advertising is already on a downswing, though CEOs insist that the real impact will be felt in the next quarter. On condition of anonymity, an advertising sales executive admits to a 15 to 20 per cent decline in news channel advertising.
An interview with BMR partners and media specialists Nitin Atroley and Vivek Gupta