Tata Teleservices' GSM innings is likely to be a tough one despite its innovative offerings and tie-up with the Japanese market leader, NTT DOCOMO.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has made it clear that Press Notes 2 and 4 issued in February 2009, which changed the way indirect foreign equity would be treated in calculating foreign investment levels in Indian corporations, cannot take effect retrospectively for proposals before the board.
The clearances are for three proposals submitted to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board by Bharti Telemedia, which offers direct-to-home television services, Tata Teleservices, in which Japan's DoCoMo has picked up 27.3 per cent equity, and SKR BPO Services, which has made downstream investments in Sparsh BPO. Press notes 2 and 4, issued in February this year, changed the way indirect foreign equity is treated while computing the total foreign investment.
In February, Wang Jianzhou, China Mobile's chairman and CEO, told Business Standard at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the company was keen to expand to India. China Mobile has over 450 million subscribers. RCom, which offers CDMA mobile telecom services and started GSM services a few months ago, has over 70 million customers. An RCom spokesperson declined to comment and an email query to China Mobile was unanswered.
The sole exception would be the Rajasthan circle (which can accommodate only two operators). The West Bengal and North-East circles would be able to accommodate only four operators. The numbers are based on the latest note prepared by the DoT. The availability of spectrum is a key element that determines the auction price of spectrum. Higher availability means a lower price.
For the second time since Press Note 2 and 4 were issued in February 2009, the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry has raised questions on their implementation, this time over an application before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
"The December and February stimulus packages, which included a cumulative 4 percentage point excise duty cut, have helped the industry register this growth," said Nandi, adding that the festive season would bring more cheer, unlike last year, when the slowdown was taking effect.
Kamal Nandi is a relieved man. As vice-president (sales & marketing) of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing, Nandi has been seeing sales back on track for the last two months.
E-tailing, or online retailing, is catching up in India with major retailers setting shop online.
The company is likely to increase buy-back offer from Rs 351 to Rs 425-450. The open offer price is likely to be revised from the earlier Rs 351 to between Rs 425 and Rs 450, as the current share prices of Novartis India are above the present open offer price, the sources added.
The BSNL board had last year approved a plan under which the government would divest 10 per cent of its shares to the public. But opposition from the unions backed by the Left parties -- which supported the United Progressive Alliance in the last Parliament -- had stalled the process. That opposition has abated, now that the Left is no longer a factor in the current ruling alliance.
Telecom operators in India appear to be gung-ho over the prospects of value-added services which help them to differentiate, add substantially to their margins while simultaneously be a precusor to third generation or 3G regime. The recent creative campaigns of majors like Vodafone (ZooZoos), Airtel (R Madhavan and Vidya Balan), Virgin Mobile (music download) and Aircel's (Internet applications) are a case in point.
It's celebration time for Bharti Airtel, which last week became the third telecom brand in the world to cross the magic 100 million-subscriber mark in a single country. The gap between Airtel and its nearest competitor, Vodafone, is now about 26 million subscribers.
Jet Airways, Kingfisher shift flights to low-cost platforms; experts expect a fare war. "Every year, airlines come up with cheap fares in the summer season, but not like this year. I had never seen airlines offering 50 per cent cash-back offers. Now with Jet Konnect and Kingfisher Red, there are more flights to the routes where LCCs used to dominate," says Bhawna Agarwal, co-founder and head of air business, Yatra.com.
The government has decided to raise the viability gap funding (VGF) for certain projects under the fifth phase of the National Highway Development Project (NHDP V), owing to poor response to the first few projects put up for bids in December last year.
A Nielsen research states that it's the network quality which is on top of the consumer's mind. The research, carried out in the top 10 Indian cities, says that 42 per cent of Indian subscribers rate network performance as very important for selecting their mobile operator. In fact, with 34 per cent votes, network-driven choice is ahead of price-driven choice.
Amul, non-government organisations reach out to buyers through the virtual world, which is free.
To expand its services in the five-player private direct-to-home market, Reliance Big TV Ltd, the promoter of Big TV DTH services of the Reliance ADA Group, plans to sell up to 49 per cent to foreign private equity companies and global DTH players.
With Arvind Jadhav, principal secretary, in the department of infrastructure development of the Karnataka government, emerging as the frontrunner in the race to replace Raghu Menon as the chairman and managing director of the state-owned National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), which runs Air India, informed sources said Menon lost the coveted job because of his opposition to the airline's proposed joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS).
The size of the accessories market ranges from Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore and has been growing at 15 to 18 per cent, according to Anand Ramanathan, manager, business performance services, KPMG. Within this, he said, the branded accessories segment is growing 25 per cent, against a growth rate of 35 to 36 per cent for apparel. Margins, however, are 10 to 15 per cent higher on accessories than apparel.
