Indian businesses' weak ability to compete overseas says much about the infirmities imposed by the intensity of government dominance of economic policy and the nature of this dominance, observes Kanika Datta.
Having missed most of the first three industrial revolutions, India has its chance to lead the fourth industrial revolution through a convergence of its IT prowess, ultra-high-speed internet connectivity and affordable smart devices, billionaire Mukesh Ambani said on Thursday. The richest Indian, who heads the nation's most valuable company Reliance Industries, said his group's telecom and digital unit Jio was conceived to provide the key ingredients needed to lead the fourth industrial revolution.
French telecom infrastructure player Alcatel has bagged an approximately $350 million (roughly Rs 1,400 crore) contract from FLAG Telecom, a subsidiary of Reliance Communications (RCom), to build a fully IP-enabled Trans-Pacific undersea cable.
Why does the world's fastest-growing major consumer of energy fail to attract investments in oil and gas? This is a question worth pondering after private sector conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) failed to close a $15-billion downstream asset deal with Saudi Arabia's national oil company, Aramco. It's understandable if multi-billion dollar investments in oil and gas projects or deals involving state companies that need to traverse a complex bureaucracy at state and federal levels and the corridors of ministries unravel. However, Mukesh Ambani-run RIL, India's most successful energy company, is not typically known to fumble on closing deals (Ambani closed deals worth around Rs 2 trillion early last year in telecom and retail with blue chip investors).
Complimenting West Bengal government, Mukesh Ambani said, "We have got all the approvals in a time-bound manner."
With RIL entering a new growth phase in telecom and retail, gen-next, say RIL executives, could soon be seen holding the reins of the firm, assisting their father, Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
The framework for new licences will be ready by end of this financial year.
The government on Wednesday approved a Rs 7,350-crore scheme to boost production of laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs and servers in the country, as it sought to woo global and domestic players to take advantage of India's manufacturing prowess. Production worth Rs 3.26 lakh crore and exports of Rs 2.45 lakh crore are estimated over the next four years under the new scheme, which is expected to create 1.80 lakh jobs. Briefing reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has been approved for IT hardware products that would cover laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs and servers.
With telecom disruptor Reliance Jio not raising tariffs, incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are focusing on the minimum monthly recharge and higher first recharge offers to ensure they retain only loyal and revenue-incremental subscribers, reports Romita Majumdar.
Flag Telecom was looking at divesting up to 20 per cent of its equity stake through an international convertible bond issue and raise over $200 million.
Falcon, which is owned by Flag Telecom, has been damaged in the Middle East but it is unlikely to affect Net operations across India.
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The existing shareholders will get one RPL share for each RCom share (of Rs 130 market price) held.
Reliance Infratel, a subsidiary of the group's telecom arm RCom, is looking to dilute 10-15 per cent stake in a private placement of shares with the PE firms, investment banking sources said. The company had last year scrapped plans to raise about Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) through sale of about 10 per cent shares in an IPO due to adverse market conditions.
Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) on Friday announced the sale of 51 per cent stake in its telecom tower business to Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure Group, for an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore.
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.
Move comes in view of big debt overhang in two sectors; companies unwilling.
