Indian Premier League would generate a revenue of $1 billion this season, thanks to huge fan following across the globe, attracting a large number of advertisers, its Commissioner Lalit Modi said on Wednesday.
Over eight years after third generation (3G) mobile technology made its commercial debut in Japan, Indian phone users got only a taste of official flip-flop on roll-out of the service during 2009 that also saw CBI raiding telecom ministry over spectrum allocation.
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.
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.
"There has been interest from various foreign companies in the planned 3G auction," telecom minister A Raja told reporters in Geneva, exuding confidence that the auction of 3G and Wi-Max spectrum would generate at least Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) of revenue for the Indian government.
"China and India will certainly see a recovery in H2-09, but high-income nations will take longer to recover from the current downturn," Jeffrey told PTI on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Noting that mobile telephony is the single most powerful transformational tool in the development, Sachs said that it is one of the fastest growing sectors currently in the world.
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.
Responding to a communication from Finance Secretary D Subbarao on Wednesday, Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura shot off a strongly worded letter on Thursday, saying: "It is therefore surprising that the ministry of finance has now decided to express its reservations on procedural aspects."
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.
Sunil Mittal is confident that Airtel will retain its numero uno position, inspite of Vodafone's competition.
Bharti Enterprises, which had last year announced a $2.5-billion investment for its retail venture, is expected to announce its final plans, including that of opening of the first store, within the next two months.
Sunil Mittal opined that all new GSM players will lose out in 3 years and Vodafone almost echoed this view.
Nokia has launched a new series of cell phones that also double as navigation devices.
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.
Coke to invest $250 m in India in 3 years
The government is likely to make mandatory the sharing of telecom infrastructure such as towers in Delhi and Mumbai, a move that would bring down the cost of setting up of towers and enable faster roll out of services in rural areas.
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