The old guard is still involved in broad corporate decision-making, but quite a few new business heads have started making their mark at the group
Telecom operators Vodafone and Idea Cellular on Monday said they will resume 3G services in circles where they don't have spectrum through intra-circle roaming (ICR) pacts with other operators.
About 1.2 crore passengers flew in November compared to 1.1 crore in October. While the industry opinion is divided over the sustainability of unprofitable growth, which is primarily led by low fare, some described it as the resilience of air travel against the economic slump.
SBI was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 10 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Dr Reddy's, UltraTech Cement, ITC and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Maruti and HCL Tech were among the laggards.
People familiar with the proceedings said independent cybersecurity experts from a private consulting firm, technology lawyers, government officials and WhatsApp representatives were asked questions about the Pegasus spyware and the larger issues surrounding surveillance, hacking and remedial measures.
As per the initial version of the Unified Licence on August 2, DoT had exempted Internet services revenue from adjusted gross revenue -- part of telecom company's earnings on which annual licence fee is levied.
While it was technically not possible to block the deal, the tax department could resort to arm-twisting.
The big beneficiaries of this move will be the big three -- Bharti, Vodafone and Idea.
The ones who came more recently were clutching the green cards that gave them an escape hatch through which to return to green pastures: Arvind Panagariya, Raghuram Rajan, Arvind Subramanian and other perfectly honourable gentlemen like them, points out T N Ninan.
A high-powered ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday"tentatively resolved" all issues concerning a proposal to levy one-time fee on existing telecom operators, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal said.
Revenue decline has left the operators with little money to service their mostly 3G and partly 4G infrastructure leading to poor data and voice quality.
The two independent brands Vodafone and Idea will be phased out, and the legacy of the two companies will reflect in the common brand -- Vi.
Sectorally, telecom, realty, auto and banks were among the top losers, shedding as much as 2.22 per cent.
WhatsApp will not delete any account for not accepting its new privacy update, but users not agreeing to the controversial terms after "several weeks" will not be able to access their chat list, and eventually, will not be able to answer incoming phone or video calls over the app.
Tier-II and tier-III towns have a reason to rejoice.
Among the lot, Rallis India, Escorts, Jubilant Life Sciences, and Crisil added half of the total gains made in the ace stock-picker's portfolio.
On the Sensex chart, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were among the prominent gainers.
Yes Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack rising 5.80 per cent, followed by Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank and Tata Steel.
Call drop problem to improve in 12-16 weeks in Delhi: Vodafone
Market breadth turned negative with 1,779 declines over 884 advances on the BSE
Of late, net neutrality has generated much debate.
The Department of Telecom, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Economic Affairs had to give their comments on the proposal, sources said.
There were reports of a mobile tower being impacted a few months ago in coastal area of Andhra Pradesh that was attributed to hacking by the company's engineers.
RIL has been talking to groups including Gionee, Huawei and Xiaomi
ICICI Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, sinking over 10 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and Maruti. Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma were the gainers in the BSE index. NSE Nifty suffered a heavy loss of 566.40 points, or 5.74 per cent, to settle at 9,293.50.
Bharti Airtel said net sales rose 7.9 per cent
Telecom regulator Trai has asked operators not to present misleading advertisements of their tariff plans, while directing them to show recurring charges to consumers under single head.
Among major Sensex gainers, ITC rose the most by 2.32 per cent, followed by TCS, M&M, SBI and Bharti Airtel.
The biggest gainers in the Sensex pack in Friday's session were Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Vedanta, SBI and Axis Bank, spurting up to 3.05 per cent. The losers included HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, IndusInd Bank and Sun Pharma, falling up to 1.55 per cent.
Stating that the Centre's focus is on promoting the country's IT sector, he pointed out that this move follows the rising import of electronic as well as IT items, including software and hardware, which is expected to reach $292 billion by 2020.
Kotak Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2 per cent, followed by ITC, PowerGrid, M&M, HDFC, Asian Paints and NTPC. On the other hand, Maruti rallied over 4 per cent. Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance were also among the gainers.
Not just mid- and small-sized firms, even big ones will either sell group companies or stakes in their listed entities to tide over crisis; more sell-offs seen in coming months.
Government's resolution on the contentious issue of spectrum usage fee seems to have found favour with telecom operators with none of them withdrawing their application from airways auction on the last day on Monday.
Invests $1.1 billion in 6 months, against $3.7 billion in 20 years
Whether one likes it or not, services constitute the value-addition sector that the country has to build on, using its comparative advantage in infotech and related skills, suggests T N Ninan.
Yes Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 6.74 per cent, followed by TCS, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, M&M and RIL.
On Monday, Ambani had said the Reliance group was open to join hands with Bharti Airtel for improving telecom network for 4G services in Punjab.
RCom had won 3G spectrum in 13 circles, including Delhi and Mumbai.
Reliance has around 90,000 telecom towers now, half of which are operational and owned by the RIL and rest on lease.
