• 'IT is time India joins the global e-conomy'
• Business of luxury
• Laptop in Less Then Rs.15000/-
• North-East, emerging new recruitment stop
• Power cos plan to raise $10 bn from primary market & pre-IPO placements
• India's soaring Sensex to maintain dream run in 2008

• Premji in Forbes richest CEO list
• NRI put Punjab villages on top
• FDI doubles its share in investment flows to India
• Having an Indin heart
• Tata aims for global footprint with Jaguar, Land Rover deal

Because India carries no baggage of legacy systems, it has an unparalleled opportunity to be the world leader in wireless broadband, feels R. Sivakumar, Managing Director (South Asia) at chip maker Intel. While the Government has made it the mission to grow the numbers of Internet connections to 40 million and the number of the broadband-enabled to 20 million by 2010, this was, in fact, a rather modest target - the country should aim rather to reach 500 million Net connections, a fifth of which should be broadband, he adds. Mr Sivakumar was delivering the opening keynote at the second annual conference on broadband and wireless technologies organised by the Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology (MAIT) here Tuesday. Indeed countries like Brazil had breezed past India in Net penetration, and reaped the benefits: a strong correlation with the national GDP. R. N. Prabhakar, Member (Technology), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), suggested that the landline telephone system, now consisting of some 40 million connections, was still a good bet to deliver broadband services - but while existing copper lines had some limitations, fibre was ideally suited. However the 'right of way' was now seen as a money earner even by local bodies and was inhibiting providers from extending this infrastructure. R. Bandyopadhyay, Special Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, admitted that last year's broadband targets were not met, the 3.3 million connections had a spread of over 1,000 towns. However, he exhorted the industry to help bring down the cost of Internet access devices like PCs and announced that the Government had decided to offer the 2.5 GHz band for wireless broadband and 2.1 GHz for 3G mobile services. The conference saw presentations by industry and public sector experts from BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Microsoft,Telsima, Wipro, D-Link, Texas Instruments as well as educational institutions like Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Manipal University.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, January 31, 2008

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Wipro's chief Azim Premji along with Lakshmi Mittal, Ambani brothers -- Mukesh and Anil, are among the 10 wealthiest CEOs in the world, according to American magazine Forbes. Out of the world's 10 wealthiest CEOs, four positions have been grabbed by Indians -- Lakshmi Mittal is ranked at the second place followed by Mukesh Ambani (6th place), Anil Ambani (7th) and Wipro chief Azim Premji (9th). The list has been topped by Warren Buffet, the Chief Executive of Berkshire Hathaway with a fortune of $52 billion. Chief of IT bellweather Wipro Azim Premji has a net worth of 17.1 billion dollars. Arcelor Mittal chief Lakshmi Mittal has a net worth of $32 billion, while Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani have fortunes worth $20.1 billion and 18.2 billion dollars, respectively. However, these net worth figures are not current and have been taken from a list prepared almost a year back for Indian businessmen and from a September list for those from the US. Forbes said that the list of wealthiest CEOs was prepared after perusing the ranks of the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans from September and its annual billionaires' list from last March. "We found the 10 richest CEOs around, some of whom founded their own companies, others who benefited from large inheritances and still others who built their fortunes through other means," the magazine said.

Pointing out that Azim Premji does not hold the title of CEO, the magazine said his company Wipro is one of India's largest information technology firms. "Earlier this month, he denied market rumours that Wipro was interested in acquiring CapGemini of France," it said. About Mukesh Ambani the Chairman and Managing Director of country's most valued firm Reliance Industries, the magazine said, "Ambani fulfils the duties of CEO at his company, even though he doesn't carry the title." "He is the son of the late Dhirubhai Ambani, the legendary Indian tycoon and founder of Reliance Industries. A few years after the elder Ambani's death in 2002, his sons split the family fortune with Mukesh retaining Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum," it added. Younger brother Anil Ambani took over the family's telecom, finance and power interests. About Anil Ambani, who is the Chairman of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), Forbes said, "Like his brother Mukesh, Anil doesn't call himself Chief Executive, even though he shares the duties of a CEO with two other executives at Reliance ADAG." Other names in the list are Chairman and Chief Executive of Las Vegas Sand Sheldon Adelson with a fortune of $28 billion ranked at third position, LVMH Group Chairman and Chief Executive Bernard Arnault at fourth place with a net worth of 26 billion dollars and Oracle Chief Executive Lawrence Ellison at fifth place with a fortune of $26 billion. Michael Dell, Chairman and Chief Executive of Dell with a fortune of $17.2 billion, ranks below the Ambani brothers at the eighth place though ahead of Premji. Koch Industries Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Koch stands with a net worth of $17 billion at the 10th position.

Courtesy: www.infotech.indiatimes.com, January 29, 2008

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One reason why the big corporate houses are partnering the luxury brands is because they see a very bright future in luxury in India. The country is still at a very nascent stage in the development of the luxury market. Going forward, India is likely to be like China which is marching ahead rapidly and is expected to become the biggest luxury market in the world in less than a decade. No one - not even the brands- expected this sort of growth in China, but are now expecting that in India as the country has similar demographics and growth rates. From the international brands perspective too, it is attractive to go with a partner who is more solid and stable. They would like to enter with a partner who could take a long term view of the business. Essentially it is a luxury brand market and it is important to invest in brand building. If one were to compare this trend with other emerging markets, there have been a few parallels. In Japan for instance, it was the big retailers or trading houses of a stature similar to the Indian corporates that partnered with luxury brands in the early days. These were department stores or other retailers who partnered luxury brands when they were coming into Japan. In HongKong too there have been some very established business houses that have entered this business. In any market, there would be certain common kinds of partners to luxury brands. One would be the tycoon's wife - a glamorous woman who is comfortable with luxury and she knows all the people who would buy the brand well. Others are the kind who want to be in the business because of the prestige associated with it and are fond of luxury brands. The third are the serious businessmen who get into it with a long term view and with the profit motive in mind, and finally the corporate houses who follow a similar strategy. There have been some changes in the way the market has changed in India over the last few years. The growth of the economy has been one of the primary drivers in the increased consumption of luxury. Another change has been the launch of fashion bible Vogue, which helps in spreading the luxury culture and shaping the collective psyche of the people. One major requirement is the setting up of luxury centres which is now off to some sort of a start. But the country still has a long way to go in terms of having quality luxury retail outlets.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.indiatimes, January 25, 2008

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NRIs have contributed over Rs 1,600 crore during the last five years to their villages for various philanthropic activities and the amount is four times what they had contributed in the previous two decades in Doaba region of Punjab. This was revealed in a survey conducted by Satnam Chana on NRIs' projects, findings of which he shared on the concluding day of the two-day conference on "Indian diaspora's role in development-case study of Punjab" at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here on Tuesday. The survey was initially conducted in 477 Doaba villages in 2002 and 28 villages were subsequently revisited in December 2007. And it revealed not only increase in number of donors but they too are getting organized and instead of contributing to religious institutions through motivation by individuals, more funds were pouring in for development- for schools, dispensaries and through welfare societies and panchayats. Also, NRIs, through their contributions, were struggling to re-establish themselves in their native villages and had set up village gates to satisfy their ego and relate their rise from rags to riches but they are progressively opting for useful projects like sewerage or safe drinking water. Ironically, political factionalism and conflicts seriously hamper the flow of funds. Another scholar Paramji S Judge, mapping the social background of Punjabi diaspora, revealed that Sikhs have migrated more than Hindus and among Sikhs, overwhelming majority was of Jat Sikhs and obviously from the rural background. The migration always remained male-centric and the women only migrated as dependents. In terms of region, Judge points out that most migrants are from Doaba (Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr)- from Rurka Kalan village (Jalandhar), 2,067 persons have gone to different countries. Later, people from Ludhiana and Moga too have migrated. While first generation of migrants to Canada, USA, South-east Asia and east African countries during the pre-colonial period were unskilled labour and poorly educated males, in the post-colonial period, Jat migrants too were engaged in physical labour. However, in post-1964 period when USA introduced point system, the educated Punjabis immigrated. Focussing on the fallout of migration and mobility on women, another scholar SK Shukla averred that it does empower women but they are simultaneously faced with sexism, discrimination and xenophobia. "Women migrants' problems are compounded by their being both women and migrant," she said.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, January 19, 2008

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The WiFi enabled laptop comes with a 1.0 Gigahertz Central Processing Unit, 7 inch screen, 512 megabytes Random Access Memory, a 40 gigabyte hard drive, weighs 950 grams and is priced at Rs.14,999.

Courtesy: www.freshnews.in, January 09, 2008

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The liberalisation-privatisation-globalisation (L-P-G) process undertaken by the government since 1991 finally seems to be yielding dividends. Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has more than doubled its share in total investment flows into India between 2003-04 and 2006-07, with inflows recording a five-fold rise in the last three years. "As a percentage of total investment, the share of FDI has increased from 2.55 per cent in 2003-04 to 6.42 per cent in 2006-07," according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion's (DIPP) year-end review. The review pointed out that after receiving FDI of $15.7 billion in the last fiscal, an ambitious target of $30 billion has been set for 2007-08. Inflows of $6.44 billion have been recorded till August this fiscal, with the maximum funds coming through tax haven Mauritius. India has also improved in the World Bank's ranking of Doing Business to 120 in 2008 from 138 in 2006, the review said.

Courtesy: www.indianexpress.com, January 08, 2008

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TCS, Genpact have evinced interest in setting up base in the north eastern region, he said. North-East India is becoming a fertile recruitment ground for IT services and BPO, according to the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh. He told Business Line on Monday, "Especially BPO companies are interested in recruiting from the north-eastern part of India. Companies are impressed with the English-language skills and the sense of loyalty that people from this region bring to the job, resulting in lower attrition." The Minister said: "Mr Pramod Bhasin, CEO of Genpact, told me that about 10 per cent of the company's workforce is from North-East." He added that both Genpact, a BPO major based out of Gurgaon, and Tata Consultancy Services, India's leading software company, have evinced interest in setting up base in the region. TCS is to sign an agreement with IIT-Guwahati to co-locate a training and development centre in the city. Genpact, meanwhile, is exploring options to set up a centre in Shillong. "Now, it is the job of the State Government to provide broadband and air connectivity," Mr Ramesh said. He also evinced hope that "now that these companies have made a beginning, investments from others would follow, in this region."

Manpower shortage
This assumes significance in the context of the IT industry facing a manpower crunch. Currently, about 1.6 million people populate IT and BPO companies in India. Despite this, supply of quality manpower has for long been a nemesis for the industry. Recently, Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, Chairman of Nasscom, the industry's apex body and Vice-Chairman of Cognizant Technology Solutions, told Business Line, "Work from clients has never been a challenge for the industry, while supply of manpower has been. The industry could have grown faster if quality manpower had come to us at a faster clip."

STPI sops
Mr Ramesh added that he has recommended that the Finance Ministry allow tax sops to continue under the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme for smaller sized companies and those with operations in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. "I hope the Finance Minister would announce this in the Budget." Observing that the SEZ scheme was skewed in favour of IT biggies and a few states he said: "Among the 172 approved SEZs, about 115 of them were for the IT industry. Most of these are concentrated in the four southern states and in Gujarat. It is time to explore options for growth in the rest of the country."

Courtesy: www.thehindubusinessline.com, January 08, 2008

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Having an Indian heart" is all about understanding the psyche of Indian consumers. To succeed in India, one needs to use the four pillars: functionality, value for money, goodness and communication.

Function maketh the brand
Functionality is a significant determinant of successful brand building in India. The success of Toyota Qualis is a classic example that shows the overriding importance of functional performance in buying decisions. Mere emotional or aspirational value will not work in the Indian market. Successful and everlasting brands have proven their mettle in their utility. Indian consumers like products to have a global outlook with Indian heart.

The goodness quotient
More than the present, goodness is an attribute for the future. It's not that the brand should take up social responsibility activities, but it should be able to convey its goodness to the consumer. These are just signposts in the difficult process of surviving this marketplace. In this process some rules will be broken, for there is no formula for success.

Courtesy: www.business-standard.com, January 8, 2008

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The leading power generation firms are on a fund-raising spree. At least half a dozen majors, including Reliance Power, Sterlite Energy, JSW Energy and Essar Power, will raise around $10 billion from the primary market and through pre-IPO placements in 2008, by offloading equity. Apart from Reliance Power's proposed public offering to raise $3 billion, four other private power majors including Sterlite Power, JSW Energy, Essar Power and Larsen and Toubro Power Development are expected to go public in 2008. These companies are capable of raising around $2 billion each through IPOs and pre-IPO placements, by diluting 20-25% stake, say industry experts. Some have already begun talks with global private equity funds for pre-IPO placement, which, in turn, give the company a better valuation and help in price discovery. Vedanta group company Sterlite and Sajjan Jindal-controlled JSW plan to raise $1 billion through private placements. Essar Power plans to offload 10% stake to private equity investors to raise up to $700 million. L&T has yet to firm up its plan for the IPO. Indian bourses saw a slew of IPOs in 2007, with companies raising a total of $8 billion. Power-related companies contributed just over a $1 billion. While the state-run Power Grid Corporation raised Rs 2,984 crore, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) raised Rs 997 crore. Recently, BGR Energy, a Hyderabad-based power, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, raised Rs 440 crore by divesting 12.69% stake.

When successfully launched, Reliance Power's IPO will become the largest public offering, overtaking DLF's IPO in 2007. The Anil Ambani-owned power company is expected to raise around Rs 12,000 crore through the IPO. The company has filed the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) with the Registrar of Companies. It has fixed the price band for the IPO at Rs 405-450 per share. "The rapidly-growing Indian economy requires an investment of around $120-150 billion over the next five years in the energy sector. Strong private sector participation is required to complement public sector and to bring in the required capabilities and technologies. Policies have increasingly recognised the need to promote private investment," said a KPMG-CII report. According to Kameswara Rao, leader of power practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the valuations of power companies look somewhat extended, but not entirely unjustified. "We must recognise that the industry is going through a fundamental shift, and there is value waiting to be unlocked," said Mr Rao. The valuation is found on the basis of discounted cash flow (DCF) and project risk. "Future cash flow of the companies will vary according to the character of their projects. The cash flow is also subject to the outlook of the companies. Depending on the promoter's financial and technical strength, the project risk will also differ. The DCF valuation process is considered as one of the most scientific methods available," said Chetan Savla, executive director, co-head of equity product group, Kotak Investment Banking. By keeping the goal of providing power to all by 2012, the government plans to add up 80,000 MW capacity under the 11th Five Year Plan. The orders for 56,000 MW generation capacity has already been placed, while that for the remaining capacity would be placed by March 2008. India is planning to add 8 lakh MW by 2030. As the country faces a power shortage of 22,000 MW, the importance of power generation firms will be significant in the coming years, add industry analysts.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, January 04, 2008

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Indian auto giant Tata Motors emerged Thursday as US automaker Ford's preferred bidder for Britain's two iconic car brands - Jaguar and Land Rover - which would expand Tata's presence outside Asia. The Tata and Ford companies said they were holding substantive discussions. Tata would have a global footprint if the deal, estimated by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in London at 2 billion dollars, goes through. Tata said in a statement it hoped an agreement would be reached in the forthcoming weeks. "We have had positive discussions so far with Ford concerning the possible purchase of Jaguar/Land Rover and we are now entering a period of more focused and detailed negotiations," the statement said.

Tata Motors began making cars only 10 years ago with the Indica hatchback, and is the only Indian automaker listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It was established in 1945 to build locomotives and started making trucks in 1954. The Mumbai-headquartered carmaker said the discussions were complex and a lot of work still needed to be done. "We are pleased by the progress in the discussions to date and very positive about the prospects of this business going forward," it said. A representative of Ford Motors, current owners of the two British brands, said in London Thursday that Ford was committed to focused negotiations at a more detailed level with Tata Motors concerning the potential sale of the combined Jaguar, Land Rover business. The Indian carmaker is part of India's largest privately-owned conglomerate, the Tata Group which had a market capitalization of 73.6 billion dollars in December 2007. Tata Motors posted revenues of 7.2 billion in the financial year 2006-2007 and hopes to increase this greatly when it starts rolling out its 2,500-dollar small passenger car for the domestic market in 2008-2009. About 18 per cent of Tata Motor's revenues come from its international business including export of its commercial vehicles to several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and South East Asia. Tata Motors acquired Korean company Daewoo Commercial Vehicles in 2004. It has stakes in Spanish coach manufacturing company Hispano Carrocera and joint ventures with Brazil-based Marcopolo, Thailand's Thonburi Automative Company and Italy's Fiat. Tata Motor's main competitors for the Jaguar-Land Rover package deal are another Indian auto major Mahindra & Mahindra and US-based private equity group One Equity. Ford wants to sell Jaguar and Land Rover after falling short of its goal for European brands, which it had hoped would generate a third of its earnings by 2006. The company posted a record loss of 12.6 billion dollars that year. Ford sold Aston Martin in May for 931 million dollars to a consortium led by auto-racing champion David Richards, but still owns and operates Sweden-based Volvo.

Courtesy: www.earthtimes.org, January 03, 2008

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Like a Formula 1 racing car India's benchmark Sensex in 2007 crossed one milestone after another and is likely to burn a few more landmarks in 2008. So much so that a stock broker quipped that the Bombay Stock Exchange, with its Sensex made up of 30 top scrips, currently valued at almost 720 billion dollars, has enough money to buy 47,300 Boeing 777 Dreamliners. When the last bell rang to bring to a close the last trading session in 2007, the BSE, the oldest stock exchange in Asia and the 10th largest in the world in terms of market capitalization, had recorded enough reasons to look forward to 2008. The Sensex stood at 13,786.91 points at the end of 2006 and closed the year 2007 at 20,286.99 points - a rise of about 47.1 per cent - its sixth straight year of gains and second fastest rally. India's benchmark stock barometer truly came of age in 2007. Having taken over 20 years to go from 1,000 to 10,000 points, Only 20 months were required for the Sensex to notch up the next 10,000, of which close to 7,000 came in 2007, including a spectacular 3,000 point charge in October. In absolute terms, surge of 6,500 points in 2007 is the highest ever in the over two decades of history of Sensex. When it comes to percentage gain, the highest was recorded in 2003, when the barometer index rose by 73 per cent. The stock index crossed seven thousand-point milestones - from 14,000 to 20,000 marks - during the year, which is the maximum for a year.

Rising stock prices led to a jump in investor wealth. Investor's wealth grew by about 970 billion dollars since the beginning of 2007 - an average gain of about 3.5 billion dollars a day in 249 days of trading. With an average increase of over 10 million dollars in every minute of trading during 2007, the cumulative market capitalization of all the listed companies on the BSE surged to 1.7 trillion dollars. At the end of 2006, when the Sensex gained by 46.7 points, market capitalization stood at 812 billion dollars. Market capitalization stood at 177 billion dollars in May 2003 - making it a ten-fold surge in total market value in about four and a half years. An investment of 16 billion dollars in 2007 by foreign investors has been one of the key reasons why the Sensex has reached milestones throughout the year. An above-nine-per cent growth rate, solid corporate earnings, steady governance, and the relative independence of the Indian economy vis-a-vis the global economy are the other reasons why Sensex has risen. Analysts say that 2008 too will be an year of healthy gains for BSE, provided external factors don't intervene. A poll among top local and foreign brokerage houses, conducted last week by business newspaper Business Standard, indicates that investors can expect returns of 15 to 20 per cent in 2008. Most of the 15 brokerages that participated in the poll also see no major impact in India due to a possible US slowdown, encouraging more and more foreign funds to invest in the Indian stock markets in 2008. Two-thirds of the brokerages predicted a 19,000 to 22,000 range for the Sensex in 2008. While two brokerage houses, SBI Capital Markets and Religare Securities, have forecast 25,000 for the index in 2008. "The market will continue its secular upward trajectory, reflecting robust economic growth led by consumption-buoyed demand, favourable demographics and increasing infrastructure spends," the Hindustan Times quoted Anil Advani, head of research at SBI Cap Securities, as saying. A spokesperson for foreign brokerage HSBC, which has put a Sensex target of 23,000 for 2008-end, said, "The Indian markets will retain their appeal to global investors; it is an outstanding domestic story, led by consumption and capex, in an uncertain world." In a survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, 55 per cent of the respondents, comprised of stock brokers and money managers, predicted the market level to reach 25,000 points and above at the end of two years. Major triggers that investors need to watch out for in 2008, according to broking firms, are national elections, the federal budget in February, corporate earnings figures, and the value of the rupee vis-a-vis the dollar. US economic health, interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, and price of crude oil could be other dampeners.

Courtesy: www.earthtimes.org, January 02, 2008

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