India Inc on Tuesday described Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as industry's Sachin Tendulkar saying the veteran leader was steering the economy "with ease of a seasoned player" in difficult times.
Traders' body CAIT on Wednesday wrote to Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani and 50 other captains of India Inc, including Ratan Tata, Azim Premji, Gautam Adani, Ajay Piramal, Anand Mahindra and Sunil Bharti Mittal seeking their support in its campaign to boycott Chinese goods. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also urged Kumar Mangalam Birla, Vikram Kirloskar, Rahul Bajaj, Shiv Nadar, Pallonji Mistry, Uday Kotak, Nusli Wadia, Shashi Ruia, Madhukar Parekh, Harsh Mariwala, Satish Reddy and Pankaj Patel, among other prominent industrialists, to join its 'Bhartiya Samaan-Humaara Abhimaan' campaign.
The world has changed from G7 to G8 to G20, where India plays a key role.
"We are interested in states like West Bengal, but the government does not seem enthusiastic about this.Currently, we are looking at states which are more proactive and have invited us in setting up this venture," said Rajan Bharti Mittal, vice chairman and managing director of Bharti Enterprises.
In a pre-Budget meeting with Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra, Ficci President Rajan Bharti Mittal said in view of the looming threat of a double-dip recession and another slowdown in western countries, the stimulus should not be rolled back in the Budget in February.
Mittal said any company, which does business that can cause loss of life of a magnitude where an entire township could be wiped out, needs to be responsible enough not only on technology but also that the backup is enough.
Captains of the industry, particulary the outgoing chairman of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce of Industry Harsh Pati Singhania, who is also the managing director of JK Paper Mill, hailed the Union Budget.
The Bharti group, which has just acquired a majority stake in the Bangladeshi mobile operator Warid Telecom, is on the lookout to acquire government-owned telcos in developing markets like Africa which are up for divestment.
The Indian industry has thus joined hands with the government in urging Americans to lift stringent export controls on high-technology transfer.
We are also trying to bring in modern processes and technologies in the area of supply chain, logistics and cold chain that should ultimately benefit the entire retail ecosystem through better quality, and more choice at better prices, says Bharti.
The auction concluded on Wednesday generating a revenue of Rs 67,710 crore.
We will introduce the Airtel brand in Africa in all the markets
Calling for a strong collaboration between industry, the Centre and states to tide over infrastructure gaps, he said it is time the country catapulted itself into a major manufacturing hub by positioning it as an alternative to China, which is the world's factory now.
Telecom major Bharti Group Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal denied any attempt on forming a cartel with other telecom players to distort competition. Bharti Airtel had received a 'notice of enquiry' by anti- monopoly watchdog MRTPC. Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular too had received such notices. It was alleged that 3 GSM operators, by colluding, have simultaneously increased the price. Mittal said that MVNOs will not work in India due to existing tariffs.
It is of course a coincidence, but the pace of corporate news in India is accelerating while the new government, whose election last week sparked a surge of corporate optimism and a stock market boom, dithers over which ministers to appoint to which jobs.
An 80-member strong Indian delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry will participate in the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from 23-27 January 2008.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group CEO of Bharti Enterprises and former president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, said on Tuesday that it was time for the United States to change its position towards India vis-a-vis Pakistan.
The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was attended by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Industry leaders, including Ratan Tata, Rahul Bajaj, Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal, who are members of the council, also participated in the discussions.
Bharti Airtel said it might look at diluting some of its equity either at Bharti Airtel or at its tower subsidiary as one of the options to fund the $10.7-billion acquisition of African assets of Zain Telecom.
Managing director of Ashok Leyland R Seshasayee was elected CII president while Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Telecom became the vice president on Wednesday.
Government think-tank body Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant supported the industry demand and called for setting up of a single window clearance system for expeditious approval of projects. Start-ups and small medium enterprises requested the prime minister to provide support in low-cost capital at the virtual launch of space and satellite industry body Indian Space Association (ISpA).
Responding to charges of cartelisation against the industry, newly-elected CII president K V Kamath on Thursday said corporates must ask themselves whether their actions in a demand-driven market was causing distress to others.
Big retail is fine tuning its strategy to win over critics and corporate social responsibility drives are providing it with the means.ITC and Reliance have already launched projects to recruit street hawkers, the main adversaries of big retail. And now Bharti Mittal has opened a retail innings of its chain, Easy Day, in Ludhiana with something similar.
The judge summoned Birla as one of the accused in the case.
Homegrown chat application Hike messenger on Wednesday said it will offer free voice calls to its users over 2G, 3G and wi-fi services across the globe in over 200 countries.
Union Communications and IT Minister A Raja has expressed his interest in bringing down national roaming rates to zero, further cutting international roaming rates and favouring technology neutrality in the country.
Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said introduction of mobile number portability is unlikely to affect the company's margins as it expects a major churn out of subscribers in favour of GSM operators.
Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Teletech has been presented the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council award for achieving the highest exports in telecommunications equipment during 2001-02.
As a group director and as a member of the management board, Walia's responsibility would be human resources and integration for Bharti group.
Oxford University has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Confederation of Indian Industry to set up India Business Centre.
Corporates are foraying into portfolio management services, with biggies like Reliance Money, Bharti Axa, Tata Capital and others taking the plunge.
During the two-day visit, the delegation headed by CII President Sunil Bharti Mittal is scheduled to meet key people such as UK Secretary of State for Health and Environment and interact with industry captains.
A CII delegation, led by Confederation of Indian Industry president and Bharti Enterprises CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal, called on US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Wednesday.
ICICI Bank chief K V Kamath to be new CII vice president.
Bharti loses 24% in 2008 compared to 62% for Tata and over 73% for ADAG. He tried to light an oil lamp with a candle, but somebody had put in too much oil. The wicks were soaked and refused to catch fire.
Former Indian ambassador to the US Naresh Chandra, noted litterateur Raja Rao (posthumous) and scientist S E Chandy George and civil servant V Krishnamurthy were also selected for Padma Vibhushan.
The Confederation of Indian Industry expects an upswing in the Indo-UK bilateral relations under new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Sunil Mittal, President, CII, met French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Paris to discuss Indo-France business relations.
Bharti Airtel, India 's leading mobile operator, said it could "move pretty quickly" if the board of MTN, the South Africa-based telecoms group, puts itself up for sale on Monday.
Providing job quotas for the socially underprivileged in private sector should be voluntary and the industry should not be forced to implement reservation, captains of Indian industry said on Tuesday.
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