Not only the common subscribers but even Finance Minister P Chidambaram is also peeved over the way mobile calls drop and wanted to know from the group chairman of the largest cellular operator Bharti Airtel, Sunil Mittal, as to when they would be able to fix the problem. "When will calls not drop in Lutyens' Delhi?," Chidambaram asked Mittal at the NDTV Profit Business Award function on Monday evening.
We will introduce the Airtel brand in Africa in all the markets
The issue was raised by the visiting CII's CEO Mission led by Bharati enterprise chairman Sunil Bharati Mittal, who among others met Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council, at the White House on Wednesday. During the meeting, the delegation comprising top Indian CEOs brought to the notice the concerns about the recent developments in the US with regard to H-1B work visa programme and certain provisions in the stimulus bill.
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.
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.
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.
The judge summoned Birla as one of the accused in the case.
Indian CEOs might like to make some serious course correction.
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.
When on October 24, the Supreme Court, on a petition moved by the government, ordered payment of past dues according to its new definition of AGR, the country's second-biggest carrier Vodafone-Idea Ltd warned of shut down if no relief is given. The total dues for the industry ran into a whopping Rs 1.47 lakh crore. For an industry that has come from 7-8 operators to just three private players and state-owned fourth operator, the warning by Vodafone-Idea sounded like a death knell.
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.
As a group director and as a member of the management board, Walia's responsibility would be human resources and integration for Bharti group.
Corporates are foraying into portfolio management services, with biggies like Reliance Money, Bharti Axa, Tata Capital and others taking the plunge.
Oxford University has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Confederation of Indian Industry to set up India Business Centre.
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.
The appointment of new expenditure secretary comes a month-and-a-half ahead of the Budget for 2020-21 to be presented on February 1.
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 student front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has blotted its CV by allegedly instigating and engaging in violence on marquee campuses like JNU and Hyderabad Central University
After ending its wholesale partnership with Walmart, Bharti Retail has decided to merge with the Future group
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.
Those scheduled to attend the five-day WEF Annual meeting, beginning January 21, include more than 40 heads of state or government, including those from the UK, Australia, Japan, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Brazil, Italy, Mauritius, Republic of Korea and Switzerland, WEF announced on Wednesday at a press conference in Geneva.
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.
The joint-venture's first wholesale store is expected to be opened by the end of 2008, Wal-Mart India President (Operations) Raj Jain had said.
Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and other telecom operators may have to pay the government a whopping Rs 1.42 lakh crore following the Supreme Court order last week that sent shock waves through an industry already grappling with billions of dollars in debt and an intense tariff war to retain customers.
The Aam Aadmi Party and talks about next Lok Sabha elections seem to be hogging the limelight when it comes to discussions around India at the World Economic Forum's annual talk-fest of the rich and famous from across the globe.
The scrip had touched an all-time high of Rs 1,149 on the bourse earlier in the day. Mittal, who owns about 50 per cent stake in the group's flagship Bharti Airtel, saw his wealth soar to Rs 1,01,314 crore (about $25.51 billion), joining the league of trillionaires Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani and Azim Premji.
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.
The move is likely to hit Bharti-Walmart, the 50:50 joint venture between the US' Walmart and Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Group that operates cash-and-carry outlets in India, the most.
The man who owns close to 94 per cent of the shares of Patanjali Ayurved, an unlisted company, does not, however, take a salary or receive dividends.
Services and manufacturing conglomerate Bharti Enterprises on Thursday announced its foray into agri-business in partnership with Rothschilds with an initial investment of Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion).
How Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar find themselves in a huge controversy.
R C Bhargava, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw & Dinesh K Sarraf are other members of the business delegation
India's largest private telecom operator Bharti is eyeing 25 million subscribers in the next two years and expects to close the fiscal with 12 million customers.
FinMin finally sacked executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan on January 18. The bank's board, however, had felt they had no criminal intent and it was a case of 'casual oversight'
